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WILLIAM  H    GLACE 


Early 
History  and  Reminiscences 


O  F 


CATASAUQ  U A 


/ 


PENNSYLVANIA 


BY 


WILLIAM    H.    GLACE 


1914 

SEARLE    S    DRESSLER    CO.,    INC. 
POINTERS    AND    PUBLISHERS 

ALLENTOWN,   PA. 


irv 


TO  THE 

MEMORY  OF  MY  PARENTS 

This  Compilation  is 

AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED 


r 


PREFACE 


AVhen  I  was  a  boy,  ray  attention  was  drawn  to  the 
early  history  of  this  community  by  my  parents,  my 
grand-parents,  and  my  great-grand-father  in  narrat- 
ing to  me  occurrences,  incidents  and  reminiscences 
which  related  to  local  affairs  on  both  sides  of  the  Le- 
high River.  My  mother's  great-grand-parents  (the 
Mickleys)  located  in  Whitehall  township  near  Egypt 
along  Coplay  Creek  in  1733,  and  her  grand-parents 
(the  Swartzes)  in  the  Irish  Settlement  along  Dry 
Run  in  1787.  My  father  migrated  from  Mauch- 
Chunk  to  Biery's-Port  in  1830;  I  was  born  on  the 
Christian  Swartz  plantation  in  1839 ;  and  my  parents 
established  their  residence  at  Catasauqua  in  1845 ;  and 
here  I  have  been  until  now,  excepting  my  absence 
from  home  while  serving  in  the  Civil  AVar  from  1861 
to  1864. 

I  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  Lehigh  County  in  1868, 
and,  during  a  long  practice  of  my  profession  as  an 
attorney-at-law  at  Catasauqua  since  that  time,  my 
business  related  almost  wholly  to  the  settlement  of 
estates  and  the  transmission  of  title  to  property 
in  the  borough  and  the  surrounding  townships; 
and,  besides  being  thus  identified  with  local  affairs  as 
a  legal  adviser,  I  was  practically  concerned  for  a  time 
in  the  administration  of  the  local  government  as  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Chief  Burgess.  It  was  in  this 
manner  that  I  became  thoroughly  familiar  with  all  the 


important  iiiattei's  and  things  of  the  community,  not 
only  of  a  financial  and  political  nature,  but  of  an 
historical  nature  as  well. 

With  this  knowledge  of  the  early  local  affairs,  quite 
naturally,  therefore,  when  the  people  of  Catasauqua 
determined  to  celebrate  the  "Seventy-fifth  Anniver- 
sary" of  the  founding  of  the  town,  I  united  with  other 
interested  citizens  to  make  the  necessary  preparations 
for  the  extraordinary  occasion ;  and  now,  as  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Historical  Committee,  I  submit  this  com- 
pilation, limited  to  the  "Early  History,"  as  my  con- 
tribution towards  its  proper  observance.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  I  confined  the  compilation  to  the  times 
anterior  to  the  Civil  War,  excepting  several  prominent 
matters  which  I  could  not  well  present  only  partly 
described. 

William  H.  Glace. 
February  12,  1914. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Original  Title   7 

Irish  Settlement 9 

Indian   Relics    10 

Weiser  Letter   11 

Early  Residents   12 

Crane  Iron  Works   19 

Thomas  and  Contemporaries    28 

Thomas  Letter   40 

Character  of  Employees    42 

Local  Improvements    43 

Oldest  Buildings    65 

First  Occupations    68 

First  Rocker   72 

First   Carriage    72 

First  Sulphur  Matches  72 

Churches     72 

Fairview  Cemetery   81 

Soldiers'    Monument    83 

First  Funeral    87 

Eariy  Schools   89 

Public  Libraries   95 

Brass  Band    96 

Temperance    Societies     96 

Political    Animosity    96 

Mexican   War    99 

Incorporation  of  Borough    100 

Banks    107 

Justices  of  the  Peace Ill 

Burgesses     112 

Census    112 


Early  History  and  Reminiscences 

OF  THE 

BOROUGH   OF  CATASAUQUA 


ORIGINAL  TITLE— The  Borough  of  Catasauqua 
is  situated  on  a  part  of  10,000  acres  which  William 
Penn,  the  Proprietary  of  Pennsylvania,  devised  to  his 
daughter  Letitia,  who  afterward  married  William  Au- 
brey, of  London,  England,  and  in  1731  they  granted 
and  conveyed  this  land  to  John  Page.  Some  months 
afterward.  Page  secured  a  warrant,  dated  at  London, 
Oct.  10,  1731,  to  take  up  2,723  acres  of  the  10,000 
acres,  and  in  pursuance  of  this  warrant,  Nicholas 
Scull,  on  Oct.  10,  1736,  surveyed  and  set  apart  the 
same  for  him.  The  patent  from  the  Proprietaries  to 
Page  erected  the  tract  of  2,723  acres  into  a  Manor, 
by  the  name  of  "Chawton,"  in  the  following  words: — 

"And  we  do  further  bj-  these  presents  and  by  virtue  of  the  power  and 
authorities  granted  by  the  Royal  Charter  to  our  Father  William  Penn, 
Esq.,  by  his  majesty,  Charles  the  Second,  erect  said  tract  into  a  manor 
and  to  call  it  'Chawton'  and  so  from  henceforth  we  will  have  it  called, 
and  reposing  trust  and  confidence  in  the  prudence  and  ability  and 
integrity  of  the  said  Page  and  his  loyalty  to  our  sovereign,  Lord  George 
the  Second,  do  give  and  grant  unto  the  said  John  Page,  his  heirs  and 
assigns,  full  power  and  authority  to  erect  and  constitute  with  the  said 
manor  a  Court  Baron  with  all  things  whatsoever  which  to  a  Court 
Baron  do  belong,  and  to  have  and  to  hold  view  of  Frank  Pledges,  for  the 
consideration  of  the  peace  and  better  government  of  the  inhabitants 
within  the  said  Manor  by  the  said  John  Page,  his  heirs  and  assigns, 
or  his  or  their  stewards  lawfully  deputed  and  generally  to  do  and  to 
use  all  things  which  to  the  view  of  Frank  Pledges  do  belong,  or  may  or 
ought  to  belong:  To  be  holden  of  us,  our  successors,  proprietors  of 
Pennsylvania,  as  of  the  signory  of  'Windsor'  in  free  and  common 
socage   by   fealty   or   in   lieu   of   all   other   services,    yielding   and   paying 


8  EARLY  HISTORY 

therefor  yearly  unto  us,  ourselves  and  successors,  one  red  rose  on  the 
24th  day  of  June  in  every  year  from  hereafter  in  the  City  of  Phila- 
delphia to  such  person  or  persons  as  shall  from  time  to  time  be  ap- 
pointed to  receive  the  same." 

John  Page  died  aged  60  years.  He  was  by  profes- 
sion an  attorney,  and  as  such  acted  for  William 
Penn's  heirs.  He  also  owned  another  tract  of  1,500 
acres,  adjoining  the  2,723  acre  tract.  He  acted  as 
agent  for  William  Penn  from  1707  until  his  decease 
in  1718.  The  1,500  acre  tract  was  given  for  services 
rendered  but  was  not  invested  with  the  right  of  a 
Court-Baron. 

John  Page  by  his  will,  bearing  date  July  18,  1741, 
devised  all  his  land  and  estate  in  Pennsylvania  to 
Evan  Patterson,  of  Old  Broad  Street,  in  London,  who, 
by  Letter  of  Attorney,  dated  July  7,  1750,  appointed 
William  Allen  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  William 
Webb  of  the  county  of  Chester,  his  true  and  lawful 
attorneys,  to  bargain,  sell  and  convey  any  lands  in  his 
name. 

There  has  been  some  controversy  as  to  whether  the 
Manor  w^as  called  "Chawton"  or  "Charotin. "  It  is 
true  that  in  some  of  the  older  deeds  at  Easton  Re- 
corder's office  the  word  is  written  "Charotin;"  but 
local  antiquarians,  who  have  paid  some  attention  to 
this  matter,  agree  that  it  was  written  wrongly  by  some 
scrivener  or  written  illegibly,  so  that  the  clerks  in  the 
Recorder's  Office  wrote  Charotin  for  what  was  or 
meant  to  be  "  Chawton ; ' '  for  it  can  be  seen  that  if  the 
letter  "w"  were  not  written  plainly  it  could  easily  be 
meant  for  "  ro, "  thus  making  it  Charotin. 

Among  the  names  of  the  early  settlers  and  pur- 
chasers of  this  tract  are  the  following:  Thomas  Arm- 
strong, Robert  Gibson,  Robert  Clendennin,  Joseph 
Wright,  John  Elliott,  Andrew  Mann,  George  Taylor 
and  Nathaniel  Taylor,  all  Irish  names,  showing  that 
the  town  is  situated  within  the  bounds  of  the  original 
Irish  Settlement. 


IRISH  SETTLEMENT  9 

Nathaniel  Taylor  resided  on  the  Lehigh  River, 
north  of  the  town,  at  "Dry-Run."  In  his  Avill  at 
Easton,  lie  mentions  the  spring  on  the  Lehigh,  south 
of  Dry-Run.  This  tract  was  purchased  in  1787  by 
Christian  Swartz  of  Longswauip  township,  in  Berks 
county.     The  writer  was  born  here  and  is  a  great  ^j 

grand  son  of  said  settler.     Swartz 's  Dam  takes  its  <      ^ 

name  from  him. 

It  was  long  supposed  that  Nathaniel  Taylor  was 
the  father  of  George  Taylor,  but  later  investigations 
go  to  show  that  his  father  never  left  Ireland. 

The  Armstrong  tract  contained  about  330  acres 
The  greater  part  of  this  is  now  owned  by  the  de- 
scendants of  Jaeol)  Deily.  It  was  previously  ptir- 
chased  in  1767  l)y  George  Taylor. 

The  Robert  Gibson  tract  contained  1931^  acres  and 
included  the  Paul  Faust  farm.  Part  of  this  land  is 
now  owned  by  the  Lackawanna  Land  Co. 

That  portion  of  the  original  tract  in  which  the 
greater  part  of  the  town  was  first  built  appears  to 
have  passed  into  the  possession  of  Andrew  Hower  and 
Marks  John  Biddle,  of  Philadelphia,  who  secured 
possession  of  190  acres  at  a  Sheriff's  sale  in  1795. 
Frederick  Biery  made  his  purchase  from  Biddle  in 
1795.  Biddle  also  sold  some  portions  of  his  land  to 
Ziegler,  who  sold  to  Biery  and  Kurtz. 

Hower  retained  a  small  amount  of  the  land  situated 
at  3rd  and  Walnut  streets  until  1823,  when  he  sold  it 
to  John  Peter. 

IRISH  SETTLEMENT— Rev.  Leslie  Irwin  stated 
in  a  letter  to  David  Thomas  (in  which  he  requested 
the  privilege  of  preaching  in  the  Old  Church  of  the 
Irish  Settlement),  that,  according  to  the  original 
grant  to  the  Irish  settlers,  it  extended  from  Siegfried 's 
to  Koehler's  at  the  locks,  one  mile  below  Catasauqua, 
and  this  was  confirmed  by   Rev.   Mr.    Clyde  in  his 


J 


10  EARLY   HISTORY 

liistory  of  this  sctlli'iiu'iit,  and  extended  in  the  form  of 
a  trapezoid  beyond  Bath. 

A  peculiarity  of  these  people  was  an  innate  disposi- 
tion to  ai-gne,  for  some  of  them  were  educated,  and, 
while  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  delved  and  dug, 
they  tiiemsolves  would  not  toil  hard,  but  would  discuss 
the  i)ossil)iIities  of  the  French  and  English  War  in 
Canada,  and  the  prospect  of  a  war  with  the  mother 
country.  They  established  a  small  academy  on  the 
Monocacy  creek  which  was  the  fore-runner  of  the 
Lafayette  College  at  Easton.  When  the  Revolution 
came,  they  responded  patriotically,  and  their  pastor. 
Rev.  John  Rosburgh,  organized  a  company  and  fell 
at  the  Battle  of  Trenton.  Their  disinclination  to 
manual  labor  caused  them  to  sell  their  farms  when 
good  prices  could  be  obtained,  and  in  almost  every 
case,  a  Pennsylvania  German  was  the  purchaser,  so 
that  by  the  year  1800  not  an  Irish  owner  of  land  was 
left  along  the  Lehigh  river,  nor  within  two  or  three 
miles  of  it. 

This  disposition  asserted  itself  for  years  afterward, 
and  now  there  are  only  a  few  descendants  living  in  the 
settlement.  As  they  sold  their  farms  they  went  to 
Central  Pennsjdvania  and  the  West,  where  land  was 
cheaper. 

Another  important  factor  was  their  inter-marriage 
amongst  themselves  (very  few  marrying  out  of  the 
Colony)  and  the  sterility  of  the  families  was  a  natural 
consequence. 

INDIAN  RELICS— Very  few  relics  of  the  past 
have  been  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Catasauqua.  When 
the  Lehigh  Valley  R.  R.  was  constructed  an  Indian 
skull  was  found  on  the  bluff  below  the  station,  sur- 
rounded by  boards,  pipe  and  other  relics. 

Opposite  the  mouth  of  Coplay  creek,  when  the 
Canal  was  dug,  many  arrow-heads  of  flint  were 
found,    showing   that    the    Indians    had    made    these 


WEISER  LETTER  11 

arrow-heads  where  the  spring  flowed  into  the  Lehigh 
river. 

Joseph  Miller  (who  lived  in  the  old  stone  house  on 
the  road  to  Hokendaii((ua,  above  the  cemetery  gates), 
told  me  shortly  before  his  death  in  1866  that  he  heard 
his  grand-father  say  that  there  was  an  Indian  ])iiry- 
ing  ground  on  the  lowlands  and  while  standing  on  the 
hills  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  and  peering 
through  the  heavy  under-brush  and  evergreens,  he 
saw  at  different  times  parties  of  Indians  bury  their 
dead  at  that  place. 

WEISER  LETTER— 1  found  the  following  re- 
markable letter  amongst  my  papers  relating  to  local 
history  which  I  have  had  in  m^'  possession  since  1858. 
The  predicted  incursion  occurred  in  1757,  and  again 
in  1763.  Some  of  the  barbarous  cruelties  of  the 
Indians  during  the  latter  were  inflicted  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  Whitehall  township  in  the  vicinity  of 
Egypt,  several  miles  northwest  of  the  Irish  Settle- 
ment. This  malicious  attack  resulted  from  the  decep- 
tion practiced  upon  the  Indians  in  the  "Walking 
Purchase,"  conducted  by  the  Provincial  Government 
in  1737,  when  their  land  was  taken  under  an  agree- 
ment, lying  between  the  Delaware  and  Lehigh  rivers, 
and  extending  from  the  "fork"  at  Easton  to  the  Blue 
Mountains.    It  included  the  Irish  settlement. 

Gent'tmon: — I  am  from  good  authority  informed  that  the  enemy 
Indians  have  attacked  the  Frontiers  in  Northampton  county  and  that 
intelligence  has  been  given  to  an  officer  of  credit  by  a  Friend  Indian 
that  a  considerable  body  of  French  and  their  Indians  design  again  to 
invade  the  Province  and  a  number  are  on  their  way  to  fall  afresh  on 
the  Minnisinks  or  parts  adjacent.  The  particular  view  of  the  Ohio 
Indians  at  this  time,  as  it  is  reasonably  supposed,  is  to  obstruct  the 
Susquehanna  Indians  in  their  treaty  with  the  English  and  to  prevent 
thereby  a  well-established  peace  between  them. 

How  the  forces,  within  the  battalion  I  have  the  honour  to  com- 
mand, may  be  disposed  of,  upon  the  expected  incursion  of  the 
savages  and  the  French  who  prompt  them  with  a  cruelty  equal  to  that 
of   the   barbarians,    I    cannot   say ;    but    you    may    depend    on    it   that   I 


12  EARLY   HISTORY 

sh.iU   ever   endeavor   to   serve   the    country    by    doing   all    in    my   power   to 
succour  every  distressed  part  as  soon  as  possible. 

But,  gentlemen,  you  must  know  that  the  number  of  forts  which  are 
on  the  east  side  of  the  Susquehanna  will  require  a  v5ry  large  part  of 
the  First  Battalion  to  garrison  them  and  to  allow  of  scouting  parties  to 
watch  the  motions  of  the  barbarians.  It  will  therefore  be  necessary 
that  the  inhabitants  should  do  all  in  their  power  to  defend  themselves 
and  neighbors  against  an  enemy  whom  we  know  by  experience  to 
strike  great  terror  wherever  they  commit  their  ravages. 

I  recommend  it  to  you  to  persuade  your  neighbors  to  associate  them- 
selves immediately  into  companies  under  discreet  officers  of  their  own 
choice,  that  we  may  be  able  to  preserve  our  own  and  the  lives  of  our 
tender  wives  and  children.  Great  must  be  the  advantage  we  shall  give 
the  enemy  if  we  are  unprepared  upon  their  sudden  invasion. 

It  needs  not  much  reflection  upon  what  happened  about  16  months 
ago  to  bring  to  your  minds  the  amazement  and  confusion  with  which 
the  spirits  of  our  people  were  affected  upon  a  sudden  incursion  of 
Indians  of  whose  numbers  wff  were  never  well  informed.  It  would 
appear  as  if  I  had  an  ill  opinion  of  the  disposition  of  my  countrymen 
to  suggest  any  special  motives  upon  this  occasion. 

I  only  pray  that  Divine  Providence  may  direct  you  to  proper 
measures  and  then  you  can  not  fail  of  success  in  an  endeavor  to 
serve  your  country.  In  which  service  you  may  depend  on  my  promise 
that  you  will  be  ever  joined  by 

Your   most   humble   servant, 

CONRAD  WEISER,   L.  Col. 
ATTEST:     WM.  PARSONS. 

Reading,   April  27th,    1757. 

EARLY  RESIDENTS— Prior  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  iron-works,  this  locality,  which  was  known 
as  Bierj^'s  Port,  was  settled  in  about  the  same  degree 
as  the  surrounding  country,  the  few  residents  having 
been  farmers  with  one  or  two  exceptions.  There 
were  only  four  families  owning  the  ground  on  which 
the  town  was  originally  incorporated,  the  Bierys, 
Fausts,  Peters  and  Breischs,  and  of  these,  one  family, 
Fausts,  resided  beyond  the  present  borough  limits. 
The  Deilys  lived  in  the  old  stone  house,  south  of  tTie 
creek,  which  was  built  in  1767 ;  and  Mr.  Kurtz,  east 
of  town,  on  a  farm. 

The  Bierys  (Frederick  and  Henry)  had  come  to 
the  locality  soon  after  1800,  and  bought  the  stone  mill, 


EARLY  RESIDENTS  13 

afterward  owned  b}^  William  Younger,  and  since  1897 
by  Mauser  &  Cressman,  who  then  rebuilt  it  and  have 
since  carried  on  the  business.  Henry  Biery  soon  re- 
moved to  New  York;  but  Frederick  remained  and 
exerted  his  energy  in  making  many  improvements  in 
the  neighborhood.  He  carried  on  what  was  known  as 
Biery 's  Ferry,  and  in  1824  built  a  chain  bridge,  which 
was  swept  away  by  the  higli  water  of  1841.  It  was 
rebuilt  the  same  year,  and  in  the  progress  of  the  work 
Daniel  Tombler  received  injuries  from  which  he  died. 
This  chain  bridge  of  1841  was  taken  down  and  a 
wooden  bridge  erected  in  its  place  in  1852,  which  was 
destroyed  by  the  flood  of  1862,  when  the  second 
wooden  bridge  was  erected.  He  built  a  stone  tavern 
(still  standing  and  occupied  as  a  private  house)  in 
1826,  and  a  stone  building  of  the  same  material  (also 
standing)  in  1835 ;  also  a  stone  house  in  1830,  now 
occupied  by  Frank  Mauser.  Thus  a  little  cluster  oi 
buildings  was  in  existence  at  the  east  end  of  Biery 's 
Bridge.  His  sons  were  Daniel,  Jonas,  Solomon,  David 
and  William ;  and  his  daughters  were  the  wives  of 
N.  Snyder,  Samuel  Koehler  and  Jacob  Buehler.  Solo- 
mon inherited  his  father's  energy,  and  was  during  his 
whole  life  an  active  character.  He  carried  on  a  tavern 
for  many  years.  Jonas  was  engaged  in  the  lumber 
trade. 

John  Peter  lived  at  what  is  now  the  corner  of 
Bridge  and  Front  streets,  and  this  spot  is  still  marked 
by  his  old  stone  barn.  He  moved  to  this  location  in 
1823  from  Heidelberg  (where  he  was  born  in  1799), 
and  bought  his  small  farm  of  Andrew  Hower,  at  first 
occupying  a  house  which  had  been  built  by  John 
Zoundt,  and  afterwards  erected  a  stone  dwelling.  He 
followed  weaving  for  nine  years,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  lock-tenders  for  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation 
Co.  In  1851  he  moved  away  and  died  at  Allentown. 

The  Faust  family  had  been  long  settled  just  north 
of  the  borough  boundary.     The  first  representative 


14  EARLY   HISTORY 

of  the  family  here  was  John  Philip  Faust.  Jonas,  his 
son,  after  his  death,  about  1831,  received  his  lands, 
and,  dying  two  years  later,  the  farm  was  accepted  at 
its  appraised  value  of  fifty  dollars  per  acre  by  his 
son  Paul,  who  lived  upon  it  until  his  death,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1883.  A  portion  of  his  land  was  divided  and  sold 
in  town  lots. 

Paul  Faust  was  born  Sept.  30,  1809,  and  died  at  the 
homestead  in  Allen  township,  immediately  outside  of 
the  limits  of  the  borough  of  Catasauciua,  on  Nov.  12, 
1883,  aged  74  years,  1  month  and  12  days. 

At  the  time  of  his  birth  and  early  manhood  the 
surrounding  country  was  but  thinly  settled,  his  near- 
est neigh])ors  on  the  south  being  John  Peter  and 
Frederick  Biery,  while  those  on  the  north  were 
Michael  Fenstermacher  and  John  Swartz ;  on  the  east 
the  Kurtzes,  and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  the 
Miller,  Mickley,  Butz  and  Biery  families.  His  great- 
grandfather, Henry  Faust,  purchased  the  farm  (orig- 
inally 1931/^  acres)  of  Robert  Gibson,  a  Scotch-Irish 
settler,  who  owned  2,723  acres  in  Allen  townshij?,  em- 
bracing all  the  land  from  a  point  near  Bridge  street 
to  Stemton,  west  of  the  Howertown  road. 

Prior  to  the  Revolution,  the  lands  hereabouts  on  the 
east  side  of  the  west  branch  of  the  Delaware  (as  then 
called)  were  all  owned  by  Scotch-Irish  settlers;  south 
of  Bridge  street  to  Taylor's  land  was  owTied  by  Jos. 
Wright ;  that  east  of  Howertown  Road,  in  Hanover 
township,  by  Robert  Clendennin,  while  that  north  of 
Gibson 's  large  tract  being  owned  by  Andrew  Mann. 

The  immense  immigration  from  the  Palatinate  at 
the  invitation  of  Penn  and  his  agents  in  the  early  part 
of  the  18th  Century,  as  well  as  the  large  number  of 
Hessians  who  settled  lower  down  the  river  after  the 
battle  of  Trenton,  began  to  crowd  out  the  Irish  settlers 
even  at  that  earlj^  day,  until  now  there  remains  but 
few  of  the  broad  acres  of  Northampton  county  in  the 
possession  of  their  descendants. 


EARLY  RESIDENTS  15 

Their  large  farths  were  cut  up  in  smaller  tracts, 
and  under  the  stubborn  will,  patient  plodding,  and 
untiring  industry,  characteristic  of  the  race,  trans- 
formed the  wilderness  and  forest  into  the  rich  agricul- 
tural lands  of  to-day. 

Among  these  early  settlers  was  Henry  Faust,  born 
in  Albany  township,  Berks  county.  He  was  the  son 
of  one  of  two  brothers,  Bastian  or  John  Faust,  who 
landed  at  Philadelphia  at  an  early  period  of  the 
immigration  from  the  Palatinate,  and  settled  in  Berks 
county.  He  died  April  14,  1795,  and  left  to  survive 
him  a  widow  and  eight  children.  The  eldest  son,  John 
Philip,  the  grandfather  of  Paul  Faust,  accepted  the 
land  at  the  appraisement  and  built  the  old  stone  man- 
sion (still  in  good  condition)  and  purchased  a  tract 
of  five  acres  which  was  afterwards  sold  to  Mr.  Kratzer, 
and  Mr.  Kratzer  sold  to  John  Peter,  who,  in  addition 
to  managing  his  small  farm,  carried  on  the  business  of 
weaving.  In  addition,  John  Philip  Faust  purchased 
5  acres  of  land  from  Yarrick  Rockel  (now  bounded 
by  Third,  Pine  and  Walnut  streets  to  Howertown 
Road),  while  about  11  acres  were  sold  to  the  Lehigh 
Coal  and  Navigation  Co.  to  build  the  dam  and  canal 
to  supersede  the  floating  of  arks  of  coal  down  the 
river. 

Upon  his  death,  July  12,  1832,  he  left  to  survive 
him  a  widow  and  four  children,  the  eldest  of  whom, 
Jo^as  Faust,  accepted  the  land  at  the  appraisement 
at  $55  per  acre,  being  the  upper  tract,  while 
Elizabeth  Knauss,  his  sister,  accepted  the  lower  tract 
of  60  acres,  and  soon  after  sold  to  John  Peter,  who 
thus  increased  his  acres  to  75,  and  all  of  wdiich,  less 
some  lots  sold,  passed  into  the  possession  of  David 
Thomas  about  1850.  Jonas  Faust  died  the  following 
year  and  left  to  survive  him  a  widow  and  seven 
children,  the  eldest,  Paul  Faust,  the  subject  of  our 
article,  accepted,  on  Jan.  24,  1834,  the  land  at  the  ap- 
praisement of  $50  per  acre. 


16  EARLY   HISTORY 

Paul  Faust  was  at  this  time  24  years  of  age,  and 
took  upon  himself  a  burden  few,  at  that  time  of 
scarcity  of  money  and  poor  markets,  would  undertake, 
and  a  less  sturdy  man  would  have  despaired  of 
retaining  the  land;  for,  in  addition  to  the  recog- 
nizances entered  into  to  secure  his  brothers  and  sisters, 
there  were  those  of  his  father  who  had  died  soon  after 
his  acceptance  of  the  land,  and  three  dowers,  viz. : 
his  great-grandmother,  Catharine,  widow  of  Henry 
Faust,  who  lived  long  on  the  place  in  a  small  house, 
afterwards  occupied  by  Jesse  Brown,  at  the  lower 
spring,  now  the  site  of  F.  W.  Wint  &  Co. 's  planing- 
mill,  and  afterwards  married  a  farmer  named  Huth, 
who  died  at  an  advanced  age  in  Moore  township, 
near  the  Blue  Mountain;  the  dower  of  his  grand- 
mother, Barbara,  who  died  Oct.  4,  1842,  at  the  resi- 
dence of  her  daughter,  at  the  stone  mansion  still  stand- 
ing near  the  entrance  of  the  bridge  across  the  Lehigh 
from  Stemton  to  Coplay ;  the  dower  of  his  mother, 
who  subsequently  married  Henry  Breisch,  and  is  re- 
membered by  the  earlier  residents,  who  occupied  the 
farm  of  11  acres  and  the  old  stone  house  at  the  corner 
of  Third  and  Bridge  streets,  which  was  built  at  an 
early  day  and  owned  by  a  farmer  named  Gross. 

David  Thomas  came  here  in  1839  and  he  started 
the  town  of  Catasauqua,  but  it  was  a  half-mile  across 
the  fields  from  his  farm  to  the  works,  with  the  Peter's 
farm  between.  There  was  no  road  where  Front  street 
now  is ;  the  road  led  from  the  dam  along  the  canal 
west  of  the  house,  crossed  present  Front  street  where 
Chapel  street  intersects,  and  was  laid  out  at  an  early 
day  in  a  direction  due  east,  passing  where  the  chapel 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  stands,  and  along 
north  side  of  the  Breisch  farm-house  to  the  Hower- 
town  Road  where  it  intersects  with  the  road  to  Beth- 
lehem, which  passed  the  farm-house  of  Henry  Kurtz. 

Prior  to  1860,  Paul  Faust  had  sold  a  lot  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  and  a  few  others  south  of  Chapel 


EARLY  RESIDENTS  17 

street,  on  Front  and  Second  streets,  which  iielped 
him  to  pay  off  some  of  his  liabilities.  Lots,  however, 
were  cheap,  and  it  was  not  until  1865  that  he  was  fair- 
ly out  of  debt.  The  last  dower  was  paid  off  in  1870 
upon  the  death  of  his  mother  at  Allentown,  where  she 
had  removed  with  her  second  husband  at  the  time  of 
the  sale  of  their  land  to  David  Thomas  about  1847. 

By  the  rapid  extension  of  tlie  town  northward,  at 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  Paul  Faust  sold  about  45 
acres,  besides  the  new  canal  tract,  to  the  Lehigh  Coal 
and  Navigation  Co.  for  town  lots,  the  greater  portion 
lying  in  Northampton  county,  and  by  the  time  of  his 
death,  he  accuuuilated  considerable  wealth,  his  land, 
prior  to  the  panic  of  1873,  being  valued  by  good 
judges  at  $75,000. 

He  was  the  oldest  of  seven  children,  the  others 
being  Joseph  (South  Whitehall)  ;  Reuben  (Catasau- 
qua)  ;  David  (president  Union  National  Bank  of 
Philadelphia)  ;  William  (Allentown)  ;  Elizabeth  Laub 
(Kreidersville)  ;  and  Maria  Koch  (Allentown).  He 
was  married  Jan.  6,  1835,  to  Amelia  Breinig,  born 
Sept.  7,  1816,  in  Longswamp  township,  Berks 
county,  one  of  twelve  children  (having  had  eight 
sisters  and  three  brothers).  She  was  the  daughter  of 
George  Breinig  and  Polly  Wetzell.  He  had  five  chil- 
dren: Amy  Borger  (Peru,  111.)  ;  Walter;  Jane  Koehler 
(East on)  ;  M.  Alice  and  Clara  B. 

His  form  was  familiar  to  all  the  residents.  He 
possessed  strong  physical  and  mental  characteristics, 
which,  if  fortune  had  smiled  more  kindly  upon  him 
in  his  earlier  years,  would  have  made  him  a  success- 
ful man  in  any  sphere  of  life.  Of  more  than  average 
size,  a  positive  man  of  strong  likes  and  dislikes,  his 
confidence  was  slow  to  obtain,  but  when  once  gained  it 
could  not  easily  be  shaken.  His  nature  was  too  kind 
and  easy,  however,  for  a  successful  financier,  and  he 
was  therefore  often  imposed  upon  in  monetary  mat- 
ters by  designing,  unscrupulous  men.    He  had  strong 


18  EARLY  HISTORY 

^lolll(^stic•  tastes,  was  retiring  in  his  habits,  and  his  life 
was  a  singularly  pure  one.  None  can  say  that  he  was 
ever  heard  to  speak  disparagingly  of  or  to  his  fellow- 
men. 

Henry  I^reiseh  was  a  stone-mason  and  lived  where 
Dr.  Daniel  Yoder  now  lives,  and  owned  10  acres  of 
land  surrounding  his  home.  At  the  time  the  town 
was  laid  out,  a  road  extended  up  the  hill  from  the 
Faust  farm-house.  i)ast  Breisclrs  home,  and  onAvard 
to  the  Howertown  Road.  The  land  on  the  gentle 
slope,  where  are  now  the  best  residences  of  Catasau- 
qua,  was  in  part  tilled  and  in  part  rough  pasture 
land,  in  many  places  overgrown  with  brush  and  trees. 
Among  the  first  settlers  after  the  establishment  of 
the  iron-works  were  the  Williams  family,  the  Fullers, 
James  Lackey.  Joshua  Hunt,  Joseph  Laubach,  Peter 
Laux,  Charles  G.  Schneller  and  Nathan  Fegley.  [See 
Thomas  and  Contemporaries.] 

David  "Williams,  father  of  Thomas  (who  was  killed 
on  the  railroad  in  1872),  David  (superintendent  of 
the  Union  Foundry),  John  (cashier  of  the  Crane  Iron 
Co.),  and  Oliver  (president  of  the  Catasauqua 
Manufacturing  Co.)  came  here  in  1840  from  Wales, 
and  took  a  contract  for  moulding  with  the  Crane  Iron 
Co.    His  death  occurred  in  1845. 

Nathan  Fegley  came  here  soon  after  Mr.  Lackey, 
and  opened  a  store.  Afterwards  he  kept  a  temperance 
hotel,  and  in  addition  to  his  mercantile  business 
opened  the  first  lumber  and  coal-yard  in  Catasauqua. 
He  left  in  1854.  and  his  store  passed  into  the  posses- 
sion of  Weaver,  Mickley  &  Co..  a  firm  which  was  com- 
posed of  V.  Weaver,  Edwin  Mickley.  Samuel  Thomas 
and  John  Thomas. 

In  1847,  Joseph  Lauliach  came  here  from  Allen 
township,  adjoining  Hanover,  and  opened  a  store  near 
Biery's  Bridge.  In  1850  he  bought  the  property, 
where,  two  years  later  he  started  the  Eagle  House, 
which  was  the  next  hotel  after  that  carried  on  by  the 


CRANE    IRON    WORKS  19 

Bierys.  The  Catasauciua  House  was  built  by  Jesse 
Knauss  about  the  same  time;  the  American  House  by 
Solomon  Biery  in  1856 ;  and  the  Pennsylvania  House 
about  1857. 

Charles  G.  Schneller  started  in  business  in  a  small 
way  on  Second  street  and  Mulben-y  alley  in  1848. 
In  1854  he  moved  to  Front  street,  where  he  sold  stoves 
and  hardware  for  30  years.  He  was  a  native  of  Beth- 
lehem, and  came  to  Catasauqua  from  Bucks  county. 

Other  early  merchants  were  Getz  &  Gilbert,  who 
established  themselves  in  1854;  Peter  Laubach,  who 
opened  a  store  shortly  afterwards ;  and  Joseph  and  J. 
W.  Swartz.  who  ])egan  in  1856. 

]\Iorgan  Emanuel,  a  native  of  Wales,  was  another 
early  resident,  who  did  much  towards  the  development 
of  the  town.  He  died  April  11,  1884.  aged  nearly 
80  years. 

CRANE  IRON  WORKS— The  Lehigh  Coal  and 
Navigation  Co.  was  organized  in  1818.  and  after  op- 
erating their  coal  beds  and  canal  for  twenty  years, 
in  ^^'hich  time  they  had  increased  their  production  and 
transportation  of  1,000  toiLs  in  1821  to  224,000  tons 
in  1837,  they  quite  naturally  considered  the  propriety 
of  encouraging  the  establishment  of  industries  along 
the  Lehigh  river  for  the  consumption  of  their  coal. 
They,  therefore,  in  1838,  offered  the  valuable  water 
privileges  of  the  river  from  the  Hokendauqua  Dam  to 
the  Alleiitown  Dam  to  any  persons  who  would  expend 
$30,000  in  the  erection  of  a  furnace  and  run  it  suc- 
cessfully for  three  months  by  the  exclusive  use  of 
anthracite  coal. 

This  offer  led  to  the  organization  of  the  Lehigh 
Crane  Iron  Co..  which  included  members  of  the  Coal 
and  Navigation  Co.,  and,  in  the  Fall  of  1838,  Erskine 
Hazard  (one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the  Iron  Com- 
pany), w^ent  to  Wales  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a 
competent  person  to  come  to  the  United  States  in  their 
interest    and    superintend    the    erection    of   furnaces. 


20  EARLY  HISTORY 

He  tliere  inct  George  Crane  (proprietor  of  the  Crane 
Iron  Works  at  Yniscedwin)  who  recommended  David 
Thomas,  an  expert  employee  for  20  years,  and  they 
called  to  see  him. 

Thomas  Agreement — At  first,  Thomas  was  re- 
luctant to  leave  his  native  land,  but,  influenced  by  a 
liberal  offer,  besides  the  consideration  that  his  sons 
would  have  better  opportunities  in  America  than  they 
could  hope  for  in  Wales  or  Great  Britain,  he  con- 
sented and  on  the  night  of  the  last  day  in  the  year 
18:^8,  he  entered  into  an  agreement  with  Mr.  Hazard, 
which  was  as  follows  (including  a  supplement  made 
afterwards  at  Philadelphia)  : 

Memorandum  of  Agreement  made  the  thirty-first  day  of  December, 
1838,  between  Erskine  Hazard  for  the  Lehigh  Crime  Iron  Company 
of  the  one  part  and  David  Thomas  of  Castle  Dhu  of  the  other  part. 

1.  The  said  Thomas  agrees  to  remove  with  his  family  to  the  works 
to  be  established  by  the  said  company  on  or  near  the  river  Lehigh  and 
there  to  undertake  the  erection  of  a  blast  furnace  for  the  smelting  of 
iron  with  anthracite  coal  and  the  working  of  the  said  furnace  as  fur- 
nace manager,  also  to  give  his  assistance  in  finding  mines  of  iron  ore, 
fire  clay,  and  other  materials  suitable  for  carrying  on  iron  works,  and 
generally  to  give  his  best  knowledge  and  services  to  the  said  company 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  iron  business  in  such  manner  as  will  best  pro- 
mote their  interests  for  the  term  of  five  years  from  the  time  of  his  ar- 
rival in  -Vmerica,  provided  th«  experiment  of  smelting  iron  with  anthra- 
cite  coal   should   be   successful  there. 

2.  The  said  Hazard  for  the  said  company  agrees  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  said  Thomas  and  his  family  from  his  present  residence  to  the 
w-orks  above  mentioned  on  the  Lehigh  and  there  to  furnish  him  with 
a  house  and  coal  for  fuel — also  to  pay  him  a  salary  at  the  rate  of  Two 
hundred  pounds  sterling  a  year  from  the  time  of  his  stipend  ceasing  in 
his  present  employment  until  the  first  furnace  on  the  Lehigh  is  got  into 
blast  with  anthracite  coal  and  making  good  iron  and  after  that  at  the 
rate  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  a  year  until  a  second  fur- 
nace is  put  into  operation  successfully  when  fifty  pounds  sterling  shall 
be  added  to  his  annual  salary  and  so  fifty  pounds  sterling  per  annum 
additional  for  each  additional  furnace  whicli  may  be  put  into  operation 
under  his  management. 

3.  It  is  mutually  agreed  between  the  parties  that,  should  the  said 
Thomas  fail  of  putting  a  furnace  into  successful  operation  with  anthra- 
cite coal  then,  in  that  case,  the  present  agreement  shall  be  void  and  the 
said  company  shall  then  pay  the  said  Thomas  a  sum  equivalent  to  the 


CRANE   IRON   WORKS  21 

expense   of  removins  himself  and   family    from   the   Lehigh   to  their   pres- 
ent residence. 

4.  In  settling  the  salary  four  shillings  and  six  penre  sterling  are  to 
be  estimated  as  equal  to  one  dollar. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  parties  have  interchangeably  set  their 
hands  and  seals  the  date  above  written. 

Ekskixe  Hazard      [seal] 
for   Lehigh   Crane  Iron   Company 

Witness:  David  Thomas      [seal] 

Alexander  Hazard. 

It  is  further  mutually  agreed  between  the  Lehigh  Crane  Iron  Com- 
pany and  David  Thomas,  the  parties  to  the  above  written  agreement,  that 
the  amount  of  the  said  Thomas  salary  per  annum  shall  be  ascertained  by 
taking  the  United  States  Mint  price  or  value  of  the  English  Sovereign 
as  the  value  of  the  pound  sterling,  instead  of  estimating  it  by  the 
value  of  the  dollar  as  mentioned  in  the  4th  article  and  that  the  other 
remaining  articles  in  the  above  written  memorandum  of  agreement 
executed  by  Erskine  Hazard  for  the  Lehigh  Crane  Iron  Company  and 
David  Thomas  be  hereby  ratified  and  confirmed  as  they  now  stand 
written. 

In  witness  whereof  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Lehigh 
Crane  Iron  Company  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Managers  and  the  s;iid 
David  Thomas  have  hereunto  set  their  hands  and  seals  at  Philadelphia 
the  second  day  of  July,  1839. 

David  Thomas   [seal] 

In   presence   of 

TiMOTHV  Abbott. 

It  should  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  that  Solo- 
mon W.  Roberts  went  to  Cardiff,  Wales,  in  1836,  as 
an  inspector  of  rails  which  were  ordered  by  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Reading-  R.  R.  Co.  and  other  railroad 
companies.  He  visited  the  Crane  Iron  Works  in  May, 
1837,  and  then  informed  his  uncle,  Josiah  White,  of 
the  successful  use  of  anthracite  coal  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  iron  there.  He  returned  in  November,  bring- 
ing the  details  of  Crane's  plans  and  specifications  il- 
lustrative of  the  process.  He  was  asked  to  take  up 
the  manufacture,  but  declined  and  recommended  that 
one  of  Crane's  associates  be  employed.  In  accordance 
with  his  recommendation,  Erskine  Hazard,  of  the  Le- 
high Coal  and  Navigation  Co.,  went  to  Wales  in 
November,  1838,  and  Hazard  secured  the  services  of 
David  Thomas. 


22  EARLY  HISTORY 

In  the  Spring  of  1839,  Samuel  Glace,  Avliile  inspect- 
ing the  canal  along  Biery's-Port,  noticed  a  number  of 
men  standing  on  the  east  side  of  the  canal,  which  led 
him  to  think  that  there  might  l)e  a  leak  in  its  bed, 
and  so  he  asked  the  lock-tender,  Jonathan  Snyder, 
who  they  were.  He  then  recognized  Owen  Rice  and 
Frederick  Biery,  and  they  introduced  him  to  the 
strangers  as  gentlemen  from  Philadelphia.  Shortly 
afterwards,  he  received  orders  from  Mauch  Chunk,  to 
ascertain  if  there  were  any  quick-sands  along  the 
canal  at  Biery's-Port.  And  these  were  the  men  who 
selected  the  site  for  the  furnace  where  the  first  iron 
was  made  in  America  with  the  use  of  anthracite  coal, 
which  proved  a  commercial  success. 

The  organization  of  the  Lehigh  Crane  Iron  Co., 
prior  to  Mv.  Hazard's  going  abroad,  had  been  only 
an  informal  one,  and  on  the  10th  of  January,  1839, 
it  was  perfected  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  board  of 
directors.  The  board  consisted  of  Robert  Earp, 
Josiah  AVhite,  Erskine  Hazard,  Thomas  Earp,  George 
Earp,  John  McAllister,  Jr.,  and  Nathan  Trotter,  and 
organized  by  electing  Earp  as  president  and  treasurer, 
and   McAllister   as   secretary. 

In  April  they  entered  into  articles  of  association, 
which  are  here  appended,  as  affording  some  idea  of  the 
foundation  on  which  this  great  company  arose  and 
flourished : 

Articles  of  Association  of  the  Lehigh  Crane  Iron  Company,  made 
and  entered  into  under  and  pursuant  to  an  Act  of  the  Legislature 
of  Pennsylvania  entitled  an  act  to  encourage  the  manufacture  of 
Iron,  with  Coke,  or  Mineral  Coal,  and  for  other  purposes  passed 
June  the  sixteenth.    One   thousand  eight   hundred   and  thirty-six. 

Witness,  that  the  subscribers,  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  whose  names 
are  hereto  affixed  have  associated  themselves,  under  and  pursuant  to  the 
act  aforesaid  for  the  purpose  of  making  and  manufacturing  Iron,  from 
the  raw  material  with  Coke  or  mineral  Coal,  and  do  certify  and  declare 
the  articles  and  conditions  of  their  association  to  be  as  follows: 

Article  l. — The  name,  style  or  title  of  the  Company,  shall  be 
Lehigh   Crane   Iron   Company. 


CRANE   IRON   WORKS  23 

Article  2. — The  l:\iids  to  lie  purchased  by  the  Company  shall  be 
in  Northampton,  or  Lehigh  county,  or  both. 

Article  3. — The  capital  stock  of  the  company  shall  consist  of  One 
hundred  thousand  dollars  divided  into  two  thousand  shares  of  fifty  dol- 
lars each,  the  whole  of  which  has  been  subscribed  for  by  the  subscribers 
hereto   in    the    number   of   shares   set    opposite   to   their   respective   names. 

Article  4. — The  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollar.s  being  the  one- 
fourth  per  cent,  of  the  whole  capital  stock,  subscribed  for,  has  been 
actually  paid   in. 

Article  5. — The  remaining  installments  on  the  stock,  already  sub- 
scribed for  shall  be  called  in  in  such  sums,  and  at  such  times  and  with 
such  forfeiture  for  non-payment  thereof  as  the  Board  of  Directors  may 
prescribe. 

Article  6. — The  Board  of  Directors  shall  consist  of  such  a  number 
of  persons  as  the  stockholders  may   from  time  to  time  prescribe. 

Article  7. — This  company  shall  be  in  all  things  subject  to  and 
governed  by  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Assembly,  under  which  it  is 
created  and  shall  have  the  same,  and  no  other,  or  greater  powers,  privi- 
leges and  franchises  than  are  conferred  upon  it  by  virtue  of  the  said 
act. 

Robert    Earp.  George    Earp. 

Josiah  White.  John    McAllister,    Jr. 

Erskine    Hazard.  Theodore   Mitchell. 

Thomas    E.irp.  Nathan  Trotter. 

Philadelphia,   April  2;?,   1839. 

Thomas  Emigrates  to  Penna. — Mr.  Thomas  sailed 
from  Liverpool  in  May,  1839,  on  the  ' '  Roscius, ' '  which 
made  the  unprecedented  run  of  twenty-three  days,  and 
reached  New  York  June  5th.  He  brought  with  him  his 
whole  family,  including  wife  and  children.  Before 
leaving  England  he  had  had  the  blowing  machinery 
and  eastings  for  the  hot-blast  made,  and  all  were 
shipped  except  the  two  cylinders,  which  were  too  large 
for  the  hatches  of  the  ship.  So  when  the  other  ma- 
chinery arrived  the  projectors  of  the  works  Avere  as 
badly  off  as  if  none  had  been  sent. 

There  was  not  at  that  time  a  foundry  in  the  United 
States  large  enough  to  cast  such  cylinders  as  were 
needed.  There  were  small  ones  at  Allentown  and 
Bethlehem.  The  company  applied  to  the  Allaire 
Works  of  New  York  and  the  Alger  of  Boston,  but 
neither  of  them  could  bore  a  five-foot  cylinder  without 


24  EARLY  HISTORY 

oiilai-fj:ing  tlu'ii-  works,  which  they  wore  unwilling  to 
do.  J\Ii-.  Tliomas  tlien  went  to  Philadelphia  to  the 
Sontliwai'k  Foundry  of  S.  V.  Mei'rick  and  J.  H. 
Towne,  who  enlarged  their  l)oring  machinery  and 
made  the  five-foot  cylinders  reciuired. 

Fire-brick  were  imported  from  Wales,  there  then 
being  none  manufactured  in  this  country,  and  in 
August,  1S;^9,  ground  was  broken  at  Craneville  (now 
Catasau(iua)  for  the  first  furnace. 

First  Furnace  Started — After  many  difficulties 
and  discouragements,  the  furnace  was  finally  blown  in 
at  five  o'clock  July  3,  1840.  The  ore  was  two-thirds 
hematite  to  one-third  New  Jersey  magnetic.  It  was 
blown  with  two-and-a-half-inch  nozzles,  and  the  blast 
heat  was  six  hundred  degrees. 

The  first  run  of  iron  w^as  made  the  4th  of  July, 
and  proved  a  great  success.  From  this  time  on,  the 
manufacture  of  iron  by  anthracite  was  successfully 
conducted  at  the  Crane  Works,  and  continuously  ex- 
cept for  the  slight  cessations  common  to  all  manufac- 
turing establishments. 

Furnace  No.  !>  in  which  the  success  of  the  new  dis- 
covery was  first  fully  demonstrated  in  this  country, 
was  forty-two  feet  in  height,  wdth  twelve  feet  bosh. 
It  Avas  operaed  by  a  breast-wheel  twelve  feet  in  di- 
ameter and  tw^enty-four  feet  long,  geared  by  segments 
on  its  circumference  to  a  spur-wheel  on  a  double 
crank,  driving  two  blowing  cylinders,  five  feet  in  di- 
ameter, wdth  a  six-foot  stroke,  worked  by  beams  on  a 
gallow^s-frame.  The  motive  powder  was  the  Avater  of 
the  canal,  the  difference  between  the  upper  and 
lower  levels  of  lock  No.  36.  The  furnace  remained 
in  blast  until  its  fires  were  quenched  by  the  rising 
Avaters  of  the  flood  of  January,  1841,  a  period  of  six 
months,  during  Avhich  time  1.088  tons  of  pig  iron  AA^ere 
produced.  The  largest  output  for  one  Aveek  Avas 
52  tons. 


CRANE   IRON   WORKS  25 

The  furnace  was  l)lown  in  aginn  after  the  freshet, 
May  18,  1841,  and  continued  in  blast  until  Aug.  6, 
1842,  producing  in  this  time  3,316  tons  of  pig-iron. 

Mr.  Thomas  had  been  looked  upon  as  a  visionary 
and  the  remark  was  made  by  a  leading  charcoal 
iron-master  that  he  would  eat  all  the  iron  Mr.  Thomas 
made  with  anthracite  coal ;  but  he  didn  't  accept  an 
invitation  from  Mr.  Thomas  to  take  a  hearty  dinner 
on  merchantable  pig-iron  which  was  cooked  in  the 
Company 's  first  furnace,  and  ready  for  him  whenever 
he  was  prepared  to  eat  it. 

Other  Furnaces  Erected — This  successful  opera- 
tion of  their  first  furnace  led  the  Company  to  increase 
their  facilities,  and  they  put  up  one  furnace  after  an- 
other to  supply  the  increasing  demands  of  their  trade, 
until  they  had  six  in  operation,  as  follows : 

1842  Furnace  No.   2,  45   ft.   high;    14   ft.  bosh. 

1846  Furnace  No.  3,  .50  ft.  high;   18  ft.  bosh. 

1849  Furnace  No.   4,  50   ft.  high;    18   ft.   bosh. 

1849  Furnace  No.   5,  50  ft.   high;    18   ft.   bosh. 

1868  Furnace  No.    6,  60   ft.   high;    17   ft.   bosh. 

The  first  load  of  iron-ore  was  brought  to  the  Works 
on  April  30,  1840,  by  Henry  Hoch;  and  this  was 
hematite  from  the  mine  of  Jacob  Rice  in  Hanover 
township,  Lehigh  county.  One  was  also  brought  dur- 
ing the  first  year  from  the  mine  of  Nathan  Whitely, 
near  Breiningsville,  in  Upper  Macungie  township ; 
and  from  the  mine  of  John  Kratzer,  in  South  White- 
hall township.  In  1842,  the  celebrated  Goetz  bed  was 
opened  in  Hanover  township,  Northampton  county, 
and  the  first  ore  was  taken  to  the  Crane  furnace. 

The  first  magnetic  ore  was  brought  in  1840  from 
the  Mount  Hope  mine  in  Morris  county,  N.  J. 

In  the  erection  of  the  furnaces  no  machinery  was 
used.  Trees  were  cut  down  and  set  up  as  poles  to 
M^hich  ropes  and  chains  were  fastened  and  these  held 
scantling  in  place  at  intervals ;  planks  were  laid  as  a 


26  EARLY  HISTORY 

floor  oil  tliis  scantling  and  on  this  floor  heavy  stones 
were  carried  or  pnlleil  np  to  the  masons  on  small  two- 
wheeled  carts  with  long  handles. 

A  large  blowing-engine  was  afterward  erected,  l)e- 
eaiise  the  water-wheels  were  not  powerful  enough  to 
furnish  blast  for  all  the  furnaces,  even  though  a  small 
engine  had  been  erected  at  an  earlier  date.  This  ne- 
cessitated more  room,  and  Bridge  street  (w^hich  ran  in 
a  direct  line  to  the  Canal)  had  to  be  vacated  and 
located  as  at  present. 

Canal  Bridge  IMtivioD. — The  next  question  was  how 
to  remove  the  canal  l)ridge  to  the  new  location,  and 
Samuel  Glace,  an  experienced  superintendent  on  the 
canal,  solved  it.  He  waited  until  the  boating  season 
was  over;  then  he  placed  two  empty  boats  under  the 
bridge  and  drew  the  water  from  the  canal,  which 
put  the  boats  on  the  ground ;  then  he  placed  long 
blocks  on  the  boats  and  covered  them  with  planks; 
then  the  water  was  let  into  the  canal,  which  raised 
the  lioats  and  put  the  bridge  up  in  the  air;  and 
then  the  bridge  was  easily  drawn  to  its  new  position. 

Public  Interest — The  manufacture  of  iron  was 
quite  a  curiosity  and  down  to  the  Civil  War,  for  a  per- 
iod of  20  years,  the  AVorks  were  visited  by  many  peo- 
ple of  prominence.  I  remember  Sir  Morton  Peto, 
Simon  Cameron,  Horace  Greeley  and  Dom  Pedro 
(Emperor  of  Brazil).  The  bridge  house  was  at  times 
crowded  with  people,  and  it  became  a  custom  of  the 
villagers  to  come  to  the  evening  cast. 

The  girls  at  the  Female  Seminary  of  Bethlehem 
came  here  during  the  Summer  in  relays  and  some 
boys  were  detailed  to  escort  them  who  took  special 
care  to  lead  them  by  the  water-house,  past  the  hori- 
zontal cylinders,  which  had  two  enormous  doors  or 
flaps,  and  these  upon  every  revolution  of  the  ponder- 
ous cog-wheels  (driven  by  the  water  wheels)  opened 


CRANE   IRON   WORKS  27 

with  a  fearful  noise,  which  caused  the  maidens  to 
shriek  and  jump  away,  to  the  great  amusement  of 
their  escorts. 

The  teams  M'hich  l)rouglit  iron  ore  from  the  mines 
were  sometimes  more  than  two  miles  in  length,  reach- 
ing from  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  scales  out  to  Eberhard's 
Quarry  on  the  Mickley  Road.  The  roads  in  the 
county  were  made  frequently  impassable  to  the  far- 
mers and  this  reconciled  them  to  the  proposed  C.  & 
F.  R.  R.  The  magnetic  ore  was  brought  from  New 
Jersey  in  loads  and  hoisted  on  an  inclined  plane  by 
horse-power  and  then  piled  up  in  front  of  the  furnaces 
60  feet  high. 

The  coal  was  piled  up  on  the  site  of  the  new  canal, 
opposite  the  Bryden  Horse  Shoe  Works,  in  immense 
quantities.  It  was  brought  by  boats,  and  in  the  Winter 
season  placed  on  barrows  which  were  then  taken  on 
huge  scows  to  the  furnaces,  ready  for  use.  This  was 
done  night  and  day  during  the  entire  Winter.  On 
one  of  the  midnight  trips,  Hugh  Dougherty  (a 
brother-in-law  of  the  late  Johnston  Kelly)  w^as  missing, 
and  found  drowned.  This  was  the  first  Catholic 
funeral  in  town.    The  interment  was  made  at  Easton. 

Immense  quantities  of  coal  were  also  hoisted  by 
buckets  and  piled  in  great  heaps  on  the  site  of  No.  6 
Furnace  (which  was  torn  down  in  February,  1914.) 
The  opening  of  the  L.  V.  R.  R.  and  of  the  C.  &  F.  R.  R. 
changed  this  and  many  costly  improvements  had  to  be 
made  to  meet  these  new  conditions. 

The  six  furnaces  operated  by  the  company  for  many 
years  have  been  reduced  to  two.  The  men  employed 
vary  from  300  to  500. 

The  company  erected  numerous  small  two-story 
brick  and  frame  dwellings  in  the  First  Ward  of  the 
borough  for  the  convenience  of  its  workmen,  number- 
ing altogether  95,  put  up  at  the  same  time  as  the  fur- 
nace. It  has  also  5  dwellings  in  the  2nd  Ward,  3  in 
the  3rd,  and  1  in  the  4th ;  total  assessed,  104. 


28  EARLY  HISTORY 

The  coinpaiiy  made  an  assijiiiinent  in  1893;  a  re- 
or^Miii/.ation  was  elfecteil  undci-  the  name  of  the  Crane 
Iron  Works,  and  ])assed  under  the  eontrol  of  the  Em- 
pire Steel  and  Iron  Co. 

The  main  office  of  this  enterprise  was  at  Philadel- 
phia from  1839  to  1895,  then  it  was  transferred  to 
the  Front  street  office  at  Catasau(|iia  where  it  con- 
tinned  until  1908,  when  it  was  removed  to  the  Empire 
Steel  and  Iron  Co.  building  on  Bridge  street. 

Iron  Curiosities — At  the  laboratory  of  the  Crane 
Iron  Co.  there  are  two  interesting  curiosities  on  the 
side  of  the  building  which  look  like  the  mouths  of 
two  projecting  cannon.  They  were  placed  there  as 
mementos  in  1907.  They  are  abandoned  tuyeres, 
wliieh  had  been  in  the  furnaces,  through  which  the 
hot-blast  was  forced.  The  one  next  to  the  pavement 
was  in  the  first  furnace,  erected  in  1840. 

THOMAS  AND  HIS  CONTEMPORARIES— The 

following  biographical  sketches  have  been  included  in 
this  narrative  to  show  the  character  of  the  founder  of 
Catasauqua  and  his  contemporaries. 

David  Thomas  was  born  Nov.  3,  1794,  in  the  coun- 
ty of  Glamorgan,  South  Wales.  He  was  an  only  son 
and  his  parents  gave  him  the  best  education  which 
their  means  would  allow,  but  this  was  confined  to  the 
rudimentary  elements.  He  was  very  studious  by 
nature  and  took  much  delight  in  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge.  Not  satisfied  with  working  on  a  farm,  he 
secured  employment  in  iron  works  when  17  years  of 
age  and  continued  there  5  years,  in  which  time  he 
showed  great  aptitude  for  business.  His  progress  was 
so  great  and  his  accomplishments  as  an  iron-worker 
were  so  highly  appreciated  that  he  was  selected  in 
1817  as  the  general  superintendent  of  the  blast  fur- 
naces connected  with  the  Yniscedwyn  Iron  Works  in 
the  Swansea  Valley,  and  also  of  its  iron-ore  and  coal 
mines ;  and  he  filled  this  position  for  upwards  of  20 


THOMAS  AND   CONTEMPORARIES  29 

years.  During  this  time,  he  experimented  success- 
fully with  the  use  of  anthracite  coal  as  a  smelting 
fuel,  and  ultimately  produced  anthracite  iron  by  the 
introduction  of  a  hot  blast  into  the  furnace. 

While  he  was  developing  his  experience  in  the  suc- 
cessful manufacture  of  anthracite  iron  at  this  estab- 
lishment in  Wales,  enterprising  capitalists  connected 
with  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company  in 
Pennsylvania  were  considering  means  to  develop  their 
business  in  the  Lehigh  Valley,  and  in  this  behalf  they 
offered  valuable  water  privileges  along  the  river  to 
any  persons  who  should  lay  out  $30,000  in  erecting  a 
furnace  and  run  it  successfully  for  three  months  by 
the  exclusive  use  of  anthracite  coal  for  fuel. 

Selected  Manager — This  great  inducement  led  these 
capitalists  to  organize  an  iron  company,  which  they 
named  after  the  active  proprietor  of  the  works  in 
Wales  where  Thomas  was  employed,  and  they  dele- 
gated one  of  their  associates,  Erskine  Hazard,  to  visit 
that  establishment  and  secure  a  competent  man  to 
superintend  the  erection  of  such  a  furnace  as  was 
contemplated;  and  this  resulted  in  employing  Mr. 
Thomas.  The  Company  selected  Biery's-Port  along 
the  Canal,  three  miles  above  Allentown  (afterwards 
named  Catasauqua)  as  the  locality  for  their  great  un- 
dertaking, and  in  one  year  after  his  arrival,  Mr. 
Thomas  demonstrated  the  practicability  of  producing 
iron  successfully  as  a  commercial  commodity  by  th<» 
sole  use  of  anthracite  coal. 

Since  then  Mr.  Thomas  has  become  recognized  as 
the  pioneer  in  this  particular  line  of  business  in  Am- 
erica, which  directed  much  long-continued  public  at- 
tention to  this  locality.  Quite  naturally  his  accom- 
plishment and  its  beneficient  results  to  the  community 
will  be  made  a  significant  feature  in  the  celebration  of 
the  75th  Anniversary  of  Catasauqua  in  the  year  1914. 
Therefore,  the  manner  of  his  first  arrival  is  worthy 
of  emphasis  in  this  sketch. 


30  EARLY  HISTORY 

Visits  Bicnj's-Port — In  pursuance  of  his  agreement 
with  the  Lehigh  Crane  Iron  Co.,  Mr.  Thomas  came 
to  Pennsylvania,  reaching  Allentown  with  his  family 
on  July  9,  1889.  Two  days  afterward,  accompanied 
by  his  son  Samuel  (then  a  lad  twelve  years  of  age)  he 
walked  to  Biery's-Port  to  see  where  it  was  proposed 
to  erect  the  new  furnace.  When  he  reached  the  top 
of  Frederick's  Hill  (now  called  Packer's  Hill),  he 
stopped  "to  view  the  landscape  o'er."  In  the  dis- 
tance he  saw  the  Blue  Mountains  whose  blue  outline 
extended  along  the  horizon  with  its  great  ridge  broken 
by  prominent  gaps  in  several  places. 

Tlie  residence  of  George  Frederick  was  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill  where  he  lived  with  a  number  of  stalwart 
sons  in  a  two-story  stone  house,  erected  in  1757,  and 
a  few  hundred  feet  north  of  it,  near  the  entrance  to 
Biery's  Bridge  (which  crossed  the  Lehigh  river)  were 
the  house  and  red  barn  of  William  Miller ;  while  just 
across  the  river  from  Frederick's  was  the  residence 
of  Jacob  Deily,  formerly  the  home  of  George  Taylor, 
a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  and  at 
the  far  end  of  the  bridge  was  the  hamlet  of  Biery's- 
Port,  where  two  farm  houses  on  a  large  plain  seemed 
to  be  the  only  habitations  directly  north,  and  woods 
extended  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  to  the  right. 

Startling  Noise — While  the  prospecting  Welshman 
and  his  son  stood  there,  a  loud  noise  from  the  vicinity 
of  the  hamlet  startled  them.  Little  Samuel,  while  in 
the  great  city  of  London,  on  the  way  to  their  new  home 
beyond  the  sea,  with  the  foresight  which  was  charac- 
teristic of  him  in  later  years,  had  provided  for  such 
a  supposed  emergency  by  purchasing  a  gun,  but,  alas, 
at  that  moment  of  apparent  peril,  he  recalled  that  it 
was  among  the  family  effects  somewhere  in  a  canal- 
boat  on  the  Morris  Canal,  slowly  moving  towards  this 
point  and  not  just  then  available.  After  discovering 
the  cause  of  this  explosion,  they  decided  to  venture 
forward   and   soon    reached   the   bridge   which    they 


THOMAS  AND   CONTEMPORARIES  31 

found  to  be  constructed  of  chains,  anchored  at  both 
ends  and  in  the  centre  to  heavy  stone  piers.  They 
each  paid  a  big  copper  penny  to  the  toll  gatherer 
(Daniel  Tonil)ler,  ancestor  of  the  Tombler  family  of 
this  community),  and,  proceeding  farther  across  the 
canal  bridge,  reached  the  hamlet  which  consisted  of  a 
grist-mill,  saw-mill,  fulling-mill,  and  several  dwelling 
houses. 

The  middle  stone  building  (which  is  still  standing) 
was  the  hotel  of  the  place,  and  Frederick  Biery,  the 
village  nabob,  sat  there  on  a  bench.  j\Ir.  Thomas  en- 
tered into  a  colloquy  with  him  and  soon  learned  from 
him  where  the  proposed  furnace  was  to  be  erected. 
Hardly  had  he  gotten  this  information,  when,  sudden- 
ly, that  terrifying  report  again  broke  the  prevailing 
quiet  of  the  village,  and  turnig  around  quickly  the 
agitated  pedestrians  in  wonderment  learned  that  it 
was  caused  by  an  upright  saw  in  yonder  mill,  ripping 
into  slabs,  by  means  of  water-power,  a  large  log  on 
the  skids.  Thence  they  walked  to  the  site  of  the  pro- 
posed new  enterprise,  and  after  inspecting  the  place 
they  returned  afoot,  late  in  the  afternoon,  to  their 
hotel  at  Allentown,  Haberacker's,  now  the  Hamilton. 
A  house  was  then  rented  for  ]\Ir.  Thomas  and  his  family 
(the  site  now  of  the  Prince  Furniture  Co.)  and  there 
they  made  their  home  until  the  two-story  frame  dwell- 
ing at  Biery 's-Port  was  completed  for  them  by  the 
Crane  Iron  Co. 

Difficulties  Surmounted — It  was  late  in  the 
"Thirties"  that  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Co. 
(which  OAvned  the  great  anthracite  coal  fields  near 
Mauch  Chunk)  realized  that  they  had  no  ade(iuate 
market  for  their  products.  Locomotives  were  few  in 
number  and  largely  wood-burning.  The  entire  num- 
ber of  stationary  engines  running  in  eastern  Penn.syl- 
vania  probably  did  not  exceed  twenty-five.  A  few 
spasmodic  attempts  had  been  made  to  smelt  iron  ore 
with  the  use  of  antliracite  coal,  but  the  success  was 


32  EARLY  HISTORY 

indifforoiit.  Tlio  hour  l)roufiht  the  man  as  heretofore, 
and  Neilson's  great  ich-a  of  hot-l)last  having  already- 
been  successfnlly  applied  to  the  smelting  of  iron  ore 
with  a  similar  coal  in  South  Wales,  it  was  at  once  de- 
cided by  the  Lehigh  Company  that  they  would  make 
a  market  for  their  coal  by  adopting  the  process  to 
smelt  the  abundant  iron  ores  not  far  from  the  line  of 
their  canal.  To  accomplish  this  they  organized  the 
Crane  Iron  Co.  with  a  capital  of  $100,000  (a  sum 
more  difficult  to  raise  then  than  twenty  times  that 
amount  would  be  to-day)  ;  and  under  the  superin- 
tendency  of  Thomas  they  came  to  erect  their  first 
anthracite  furnace  at  Catasauqua. 

One  can  hardly  appreciate  the  difficulties  that  daily 
beset  the  manager;  ores  and  fuels  of  unknown  and 
varying  constituents ;  no  experienced  help ;  no  foun- 
dries or  machine  shops  worthy  of  the  name  within 
reach;  and  weakly  constructed  blowing-engines  which 
were  continually  breaking  down.  Hot-blast  ovens  of 
the  crudest  type,  capable  of  heating  only  500  to  600 
degrees,  were  but  a  small  part  of  this  manufacturer's 
difficulties.  After  their  pig-iron  had  reached  market, 
it  met  customers  who  liad  no  faith  in  it  and  often  it 
could  only  be  sold  with  a  guarantee  of  faultless 
casting. 

With  the  opening  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  R.  R.  in 
1855,  a  new  impetus  Avas  given  to  the  iron  industry. 
Prior  to  that  time,  the  furnaces  were  obliged  to  de- 
pend upon  the  canal  for  coal  and  for  shipments  of 
iron ;  and  it  was  about  this  time  that  Thomas  built  the 
first  of  those  minimum  hot-pressure  blowing-engines 
which  afterward  became  the  common  type  and  al- 
lowed the  use  of  the  New  Jersey  rich  magnetic  ores. 

Founder  of  Town — Mr.  Thomas  was  prominently 
identified  with  the  management  and  success  of  the 
Crane  Iron  Works  for  many  years.  He  became  the 
promoter  of  the  large  iron  works  at  Hokendauqua, 


THOMAS  AND   CONTEMPORARIES  3:5 

which  were  named  after  him.  He  was  interested  in 
other  enterprises  here  and  elsewhere.  He  took  miieh 
interest  in  the  political,  tinancial,  religious  and  char- 
itable affairs  of  the  town,  and  therefore  he  came  to  be 
commonly  recognized  as  its  founder.  He  was  par- 
ticularly concerned  in  the  establishment  and  success 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Catasaucjua,  and 
encouraged  temperance  and  thrift  amongst  the  nu- 
merous workingmen  under  him. 

Mr.  Thomas  w'as  married  to  Elizabeth  Hopkins, 
daughter  of  John  Hopkins,  of  Wales,  and  they  had 
five  children :  Jane,  Gwenny  ( married  to  Joshua 
Hunt),  Samuel,  John  and  David.  He  died  June  20, 
1882,  in  the  88th  year  of  his  age.  His  remains  Avere 
deposited  in  the  large  Thomas  Vault  in  Fairview 
Cemetery. 

Samuel  Glace  was  born  at  Reamstown,  in  Lancas- 
ter county,  Pa.,  on  Oct.  12,  1805.  He  went  from 
Conyngham,  in  Luzerne  county,  to  Mauch  Chunk,  in 
the  Lehigh  Valley,  in  1826,  where  he  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Co.  In 
1830  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Biery's-Port  upon 
receiving  the  appointment  of  division  superintendent 
of  the  canal  from  the  "Slate  Dam"  at  Laury's  to 
the  "Allentown  Dam,"  and  he  filled  this  position  for 
10  years.  Then  he  became  the  mining  agent  of  the 
Crane   Iron   Co.,   which  he  served  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Glace  was  the  first  person  to  produce  hydrau- 
lic cement  in  the  Lehigh  Valley  at  Lehigh  Gap,  his  son 
having  prepared  a  paper  on  the  subject  for  the  His- 
torical Society  of  Pennsylvania  at  Philadelphia.  He 
was  married  to  Isabella  Swartz,  of  Allen  township, 
and  they  had  two  children,  William  H.  Glace  (At- 
torney-at-law),  and  Amanda  E.  (married  to  Dr. 
Daniel  Yoder),  both  of  wdiom  reside  at  Catasauqua. 
He  died  January  3,  1892,  at  the  remarkable  age  of 
86  years,  2  months  and  21  days. 


34  EARLY  HISTORY 

Frkdkrick  BiEKY — 1  heard  my  grand-father,  John 
Svvariz,  iariner  of  Allen  townsliip,  state  that  Fred- 
ei'ick  Hiery  iirst  inli'odueed  the  custom  of  entertaining 
at  funerals  in  this  section  of  the  country.  It  was  at 
the  time  of  the  hnrial  of  a  member  of  his  own  family. 
The  interment  was  made  at  the  church  in  Shoeners- 
ville,  and  tiiere  the  announcement  was  first  publicly 
made  from  the  i)nli)it  ])y  the  minister  that  the  mourn- 
ers and  friends  were  invited  to  return  to  the  home  of 
Mr.  Biery  for  the  refreshment  of  man  and  beast. 
There  the  guests  were  arranged  in  rows  in  the  yard 
and  servants  appeared,  some  with  bottles  of  w^hiskey 
and  glasses,  and  others  with  lunch  consisting  of  bread, 
meat,  pie,  cake  and  coffee;  and  hostlers  provided  fod- 
der for  the  horses.  Tims  was  a  custom  introduced 
which  prevailed  hereabouts  for  many  years.  It  be- 
came a  necessity  l)ecause  the  country  was  sparsely 
populated,  and  some  of  the  relatives  and  friends  were 
obliged  to  start  early  and  travel  far  if  they  washed 
to  attend  a  funeral. 

Mr.  Biery  owned  a  large  tract  of  land  here  and  the 
site  for  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  furnace  was  purchased 
from  him.  He  had  five  sons,  Daniel,  Jonas,  Solomon, 
David  and  William,  and  three  daughters,  Mrs.  Nich- 
olas Snyder,  Mrs.  Samuel  Koehler  and  Mrs.  Jacob 
Buehler.  Three  fine  and  attractive  cut  stone  two- 
story  dwelling  houses  erected  in  1826,  1830  and  1835 
along  the  main  road  in  the  village  near  the  bridge 
which  carried  his  name  for  nearly  seventy  years, 
are  still  standing  in  a  remarkable  state  of  preserva- 
tion.    He  died  in  1845. 

His  son  Solomon  carried  on  the  tavern  (erected  in 
1826)  for  many  years;  and  he  served  as  post-master 
of  the  Catasau(|ua  office  from  1855  to  1861.  In  later 
years  he  was  interested  in  the  car-builing  firm  of 
Frederick  &  Co.,  at  Fullerton. 

Jonas  lived  in  the  farm  house,  now  the  residence 


THOMAS  AND   CONTEMPORARIES  35 

of  August  Hohl  on  Race  street  and  Railroad  alley, 
and  was  engaged  as  a  farmer.  He  owned  and  sold  all 
the  land  upon  which  East  Catasauqua  came  to  be 
established,  now  included  in  the  3rd  Ward.  The 
quarry  along  the  Catasauqua  creek,  where  the  Crane 
Iron  Co.  obtained  all  their  lime-stone  for  the  furnaces 
for  years,  netted  him  more  than  .$40,000  on  a  royalty 
of  three  cents  a  ton.  A  large  part  of  the  land  along 
2nd  street,  and  also  along  Wood  street,  was  sold 
by  him  into  lots  for  buildings,  though  quite  a  nund)er 
had  previously  been  sold  by  his  father. 

Daniel  resided  on  his  farm  near  Weaversville, 
now  owned  by  Peter  Laubach,  and  there  he  died ; 
David  resided  on  his  farm  near  Mickley's,  and  there 
he  died ;  and  William,  the  youngest  son,  died  at 
home  at  a  comparatively  early  age. 

James  W.  Fuller  figures  very  prominently  as  a 
contemporary  of  David  Thomas.  His  father,  Chaun- 
cey  Dorrance  Fuller,  came  to  Biery's-Port  from  the 
"Plains,"  above  Wilkes-Barre,  soon  after  the  con- 
struction of  the  Lehigh  Canal  was  started,  upon  the 
invitation  of  Abiel  Abbott,  one  of  the  earliest  super- 
intendents of  the  canal,  and  was  employed  by  the 
company  for  a  number  of  years.  Subsequently  he 
served  as  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the 
borough  for  ten  years,  from  1855  to  1865. 

The  son,  in  his  early  years  at  Biery's-Port,  ran 
boats  on  the  canal,  and  afterward  conducted  the  canal 
store  at  the  bridge. 

From  1852  to  1856  he  was  specially  employed  by 
David  Thomas,  for  the  Crane  Iron  Co.,  to  secure  from 
the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  a  charter  for  a  rail- 
road to  extend  from  Catasauciua  to  Fogelsville  and 
Red  Lion  (near  Mertztown  in  Berks  county),  for 
the  purpose  of  enabling  the  Company  and  also  the 
Thomas  Iron  Co..  to  bring  iron  ore  from  the  westerly 
and  southerly  portions  of  the  county  to  their  large 
works  at  a  reduced  expense,  and  also  to  discontinue 


36  EARLY  HISTORY 

damaging  the  piihlic  roads  with  their  numerous 
heavy  teams  which  iiatl  come  to  be  a  source  of  com- 
plaint by  tlie  tax-i);iyers.  ]iut  his  eiforts  developed 
intense  opposition  wiiich  resulted  in  public  meetings 
at  Alleiitown  to  denounce  the  attempts  of  the  "Black 
Republicans"  towards  securing  such  a  charter,  be- 
cause, as  alleged,  it  would  finally  destroy  the  fine 
farms  of  the  yeomanry  in  the  beautiful  and  produc- 
tive valley  of  the  Jordan.  His  skill  and  perseverance 
brought  success,  first  obtaining  a  charter  for  a  plank- 
road,  and  afterward  another  charter  for  a  railroad. 
In  the  Spring  of  1856,  the  railroad  was  commenced, 
and  within  a  year  the  ore  teams  were  no  longer  seen 
on  the  public  roads,  tearing  up  the  roadway  and  mak- 
ing it  well-nigh  impassable  as  had  theretofore  been  the 
case.    Of  course,  the  loud  complaints  subsided. 

During  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Fuller  became  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  political  and  military  affairs 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  his  influence  with  the  Republican 
administration  then  was  generally  recognized. 

He  was  married  to  Clarissa  Miller  and  his  children, 
who  lived  to  mature  years,  were  Orange,  James  W., 
Jr.,  Abbott,  Clinton  H.,  and  Clara  (married  to  Ogden 
E.  Frederick.)  Two  of  them  survive,  Abbott,  who 
resides  at  Philadelphia,  and  Mrs.  Frederick,  at  Cata- 
sauqua.  He  established  the  Fairview  Cemetery  in 
1858.    He  died  in  1872. 

John  George  Kurtz,  the  grand-father  of  the  late 
Henry  Kurtz  at  Catasauqua,  settled  in  Hanover  town- 
ship along  the  Catasauqua  creek,  in  1760,  and  es- 
tablished a  homestead  here  when  the  surrounding 
country  was  a  wilderness  and  the  land  extending 
thence  to  Shoenersville  was  generally  known  as  ' '  Dry- 
lands," because  no  water  was  obtainable  in  this  im- 
mediate vicinity  during  the  Summer  months  and  the 
farmers'  cattle  had  to  be  driven  to  the  Lehigh  river 
where  the  creek  had  its  outlet.  It  is  said  that  after 
Kurtz   had   erected   a  cabin  he   went   to   Europe  to 


THOMAS   AND   CONTEMPORARIES  37 

fetch  his  family,  luit  upon  his  return  with  them  he 
found  the  cabin  in  ruins,  having  been  destroyed  by 
the  Indians. 

In  1839,  the  Kurtz  plantation  came  to  be  divided 
between  two  of  his  grand-children,  Henry,  who  took 
the  western  portion,  and  George,  who  took  the  eastern. 
Their  descendants  here  have  become  inimerous. 

For  many  years  these  grand-sons  refused  to  sell 
their  land  for  building  lots,  and  this  caused  the  town 
to  develop  towards  Bethlehem,  and  the  improved  sec- 
tion came  to  be  called  East-Catasauqua. 

Jonathan  Snyder  was  a  native  of  Shoenersville, 
and  had  a  fair  education  with  a  fine  handwriting.  In 
1839  he  became  the  lock  tender  at  the  locks  opposite 
the  furnace  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  Afterwards  he 
occupied  the  toll-liouse  at  the  Biery  Bridge.  He  col- 
lected all  the  tolls  in  this  section  of  the  canal.  When 
the  town  was  erected  into  a  borough  he  served  as  as- 
sessor for  some  years. 

Of  his  immediate  family,  the  only  survivors  are  his 
grand-children,  the  AVilliams  family,  who  reside  at 
2nd  and  Bridge  streets. 

James  Lackey  was  a  native  of  Reading.  He  came 
here  at  an  early  day  in  the  history  of  the  town  and 
carried  on  the  canal-store  (where  George  B.  F.  Deily 
resides)  when  David  Thomas  came  here.  He  occu- 
pied this  store  several  years,  then  he  leased  an  acre 
of  ground  north  of  the  furnace  between  the  canal 
and  river  and  erected  a  store  and  dwelling  M^hich  he 
carried  on  until  about  1850.  By  this  time,  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  had  increased  so  much  that 
they  were  obliged  to  extend  their  plant  to  the  north; 
so  they  purchased  the  property  and  Lackey  located 
on  Front  street,  south  of  Mulberry,  where  he  erected 
another  store  and  dwelling.  He  conducted  a  general- 
store  business  there  until  1857,  when  he  was  elected  to 
the  office  of  prothonotary  of  Lehigh  county  and  he 


38  EARLY  HISTORY 

removed  to  Allentown.  This  locality  on  Front  street 
then  became  the  site  of  tlie  National  Bank  of  Cata- 
saiKina,  and  is  now  occupied  by  the  Imperial  Hotel. 

Mr.  Lackey  served  as  prothonotary  from  1857  to 
1863,  and  as  deputy  for  many  years  afterward.  He 
died  in  Allentown  at  an  advanced  age.  He  was  a 
highly  respected  man. 

John  Leibekt  lived  near  "Rohn'.s,"  whieli  has 
come  to  be  included  in  the  3rd  "Ward.  He  was  a  boss- 
f;arpenter  for  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Co.  for 
a  time ;  then,  upon  receiving  a  similar  appointment 
from  the  Crane  Iron  Co.,  he  located  at  Biery 's-Port, 
which  he  served  for  several  years.  He  died  about 
1845.  His  widow  survived  him  for  upwards  of  50 
years.  His  son  Owen  became  prominent  as  the  super- 
intendent of  the  great  industrial  establishment  of  the 
Bethlehem  Steel  Co.  The  only  descendants  still  living 
here  are  a  daughter  Jane,  and  a  grand-daughter 
Emma  (Avife  of  James  Morrow,  Esq.) 

The  day  Leibert  moved  to  Biery 's-Port  (then  Crane- 
ville),  my  father  asked  him  where  he  was  going.  He 
answered  rather  ironicall.y — "Oh,  to  Craneville,  and 
now  I  suppose  my  daughters  Mill  marry  Irishmen." 
The  late  James  Nevins  was  his  son-in-law. 

John  Peter  was  born  in  1799  in  Heidelberg  town- 
ship, Lehigh  county,  and  lived  at  the  corner  of  Bridge 
and  Front  streets,  at  a  point  between  Schneller's 
block  and  the  Lehigh  Canal.  He  moved  to  this  locality 
in  1823  and  bought  his  farm  from  Andrew  Hower, 
heirs  of  Jno.  Philip  Faust  and  others.  His  first  home 
was  built  by  John  Youndt.  He  afterward  erected  a 
stone  dwelling  which  is  now  the  stable  of  F.  "W.  Wint 
&  Co.  He  followed  weaving  for  nine  years.  Upon 
the  completion  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Co. 
canal  he  became  a  lock-tender. 

In  1851,  he  sold  the  remainder  of  his  farm  (not 
heretofore  sold  into  lots)  to  David  Thomas,  and  moved 
to  Bethlehem.     After  the  death  of  his  wife,  he  made 


THOMAS  AND   CONTEMPORARIES  39 

his  home  with  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Owen  Swartz,  at 
Allcntown  where  he  died  at  an  advanced  age.  His 
children  were  Franklin,  Joseph,  Susanna  and  ]\Ier- 
sena.  There  are  still  living  of  his  children.  Susanna, 
widow  of  Owen  Swartz  deceased,  and  Mersena,  who 
was  married  to  David  Jones,  a  brother  of  Capt.  Bill 
Jones. 

In  contrast  with  many  of  the  original  inhabitants 
who  opposed  David  Thomas  in  his  projects  and  ideas, 
owing  to  politics  which  raged  more  violently  then 
than  now,  John  Peter  could  always  be  relied  upon  to 
support  him. 

George  Breinig — The  ancestors  of  George  Breinig 
were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Longswamp  township, 
in  Berks  county.  His  great-grandfather  was  one  of 
the  building  committee  in  the  erection  of  the  Old 
Lehigh  Church  near  Alburtis  in  the  early  part  of  the 
18th  Century.  While  a  young  man,  he  attended  the 
Academy  at  the  "Irish  Settlement"  and  on  his  way  to 
and  fro  he  passed  the  farm  which  was  irrigated  by 
the  Catasauqua  creek  and  became  noted  for  its  fer- 
tility. Upon  reaching  manhood  he  purchased  this 
farm  of  245  as.  76  ps.  in  Allen  township  from  the  Es- 
tate of  Peter  Beisel,  deceased,  on  April  4,  1831,  by 
virtue  of  a  special  Act  of  Assembly,  passed  Feb.  26, 
1831,  and  moved  upon  it  in  1832.  It  is  still  owned 
by  some  of  his  descendants. 

Robert  IMcIntyre  came  here  with  his  teams  from 
Mauch  Chunk  where  he  had  finished  a  contract  soon 
after  Mr.  Thomas  arrived,  and  he  did  considerable 
work  in  digging  the  race  for  the  water  which  turned 
the  large  water-wheel  in  the  furnace.  Soon  after- 
ward he  purchased  the  farm  adjoining  Fairview  Cem- 
etery and  there  mined  iron-ore  wdiich  was  washed 
where  the  Lehigh  Valley  R.  R.  depot  is  situated.  The 
race  for  the  washery  is  now  used  to  run  the  turbine- 
wheel  wiiich  raises  the  water  for  the  Lehigh  Valley 
R.  R.  and  Catasauqua  and  Fogelsville  R.  R.  locomo- 


40  EARLY  HISTORY 

tives.  He  also  purchased  the  farm  on  the  road  to 
Bethh'hem,  now  owned  by  the  Oberly  Estate.  He 
owned  real  estate  in  town,  including  the  properties 
now  known  as  the  Eagle  Hotel  and  the  Lehigh 
National  Bank.  He  built  several  sections  of  the  Cata- 
sauqua  and  Fogelsville  R.  R.  His  principal  work, 
however,  which  gave  him  much  fame,  was  the  con- 
struction of  the  A(|ueduct  through  which  the  water 
was  conveyed  from  the  Upper  Potomac  river  to  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.  In  1864  he  sold  his  property  here  and 
removed  to  his  farm  near  Quincy,  111.,  where  he  died 
at  an  advanced  age. 

THOMAS  LETTER— The  following  interesting 
letter  was  sent  by  David  Thomas  to  a  friend  in  Wales 
six  months  after  he  had  settled  here : — 

Crane  Iron  Works,  Dec.  11th,  1839. 
Mr.   David  Bowen,    Aberdare,    South   Wales,   England. 

My  Dear  Friend : — I  have  taken  my  pen  in  hand  to  write  you  a  few 
lines  from  this  wide  western  hemisphere.  I  am  in  perfect  health 
and  good  spirits  and  all  my  family  are  the  same  who  join  me  in 
,  hoping  this  brief  letter  will  find  you  and  your  family  also  enjoying 
good  health  and  happiness.  I  suffered  much  on  the  voyage  and  after  I 
came  here  from  sickness,  which  you  no  doubt  have  heard ",  but  my 
health  and  strength  have  now  recovered  amazingly,  and  I  am  now 
flattered  by  those  who  knew  me  before  that  I  look  better  than  T  did 
some  years  ago. 

We  have  been  treated  here  with  much  kindness.  My  employers 
have  done  evrything  in  their  power  for  my  comfort ;  they  have 
built  me  a  very  good  house,  with  garden  and  every  convenience  that 
one  could  wish,  and  I  have  reason  to  believe  they  are  satisfied  with 
me.  I  have  imder  my  care  about  100  men  with  proper  foremen  to 
look    after   every    department ;    I    give   the    orders    and   pay    them. 

We  live  in  a  very  fertile  country  where  every  sort  of  grain,  vege- 
table and  fruit  is  very  abundantly  grown.  The  climate  is  very  healthy; 
and  the  weather  has  been  hitherto  very  good.  The  people  are  hos- 
pitable and  kind,  chiefly  from  German  origin.  There  is  much  of  that 
language  spoken  here,  which  I  am  learning  very  fast.  The  children 
can  talk  it  better  than  I  can. 

Places  of  worship  and  schools  are  numerous.  Many  denominations 
are  supported  by  voluntary  contributions;  the  schools  by  a  tax,  every 
St.;te  appropriating  so  many  thousand  dollars  for  the  use  of  schools. 
There  is  one  built  in  my  neighborhood  where  every  one  can  educate 
his  children   for   almost   nothing,   to   any   branch    of  science   or   literature. 


THOMAS  LETTER  41 

The  government  is  Deniocrntic,  and  oliiefly  in  tlie  hands  of  the  most 
numeralle  part  of  the  community,  which  in  my  opinion  is  the  worst 
part  of  their  policy,  and  the  most  likely  to  injure  the  permanent  pro- 
gress of  America.  Your  radicals,  with  riotous  chartists,  I  think  would 
have  enough  of  universal  suffrage  only  for  them  to  witness  the  abuse 
of  that  suffrage  as  applied  here.  I  have  seen  with  regret  the  riotous 
affair  of  the  chartists  at  Newport,  and  I  am  afraid  from  the  appear- 
ance of  the  English  newspapers  that  you  are  going  to  have  more  of  it. 

The  population  of  this  district  is  not  very  thin.  It  is  peopled  as 
thickly  as  Carmarthenshire.  The  towns  are  six  to  ten  miles  from  one 
another  and  some  of  them  have  from  3,000  to  12,000  people.  Phila- 
delphia is  54  miles  and  New  York  is  93  miles,  to  either  of  wliich  places 
we  can  go  from  here  in  one  day.  Traveling  here  is  very  expeditious, 
as  there  are  canals  and  railroads  in  every  direction.  The  town  nearest 
to  us  is  AUentown  which  is  three  miles   from  our  works. 

The  natural  resources  of  this  country  are  numerous.  All  sorts  of 
minerals  are  very  abundant;  provisions  are  very  cheap,  in  fact,  every- 
thing for  the  use  of  man  is  very  moderate  except  woolen  cloths,  M'hich 
are  about  double  of  those  bought  in  England.  Calico  and  cotton 
prints  are  as  cheap  here  as  you  can  get  them  there,  and  cotton  goods 
of  every  sort  are  very  cheap. 

I  do  not  think  the  cattle  in  this  country  are  as  good  as  in  tlie  old 
country;  but  horses  are  equally  as  good,  if  not  better  generally.  Pigs  are 
very  clieap  and  abundant.  Pork  is  very  cheap,  selling  in  the  market 
at  9  shillings  1  pence  per  cwt.  and  the  best  bacon  fed  upon  Indian 
corn  (which  is  very  plentiful  here)  for  12  shillings  6  pence  per  cwt.  of 
your  currency  ;  best  flour  is  $5.50  per  barrel  or  550  half  pence  of  your 
currency,  weighing  196  pounds.  I  had  a  barrel  last  week  which 
makes  bread  pretty  nearly  as  white  as  this  sheet  of  paper  I  am  writing 
upon ;  good  black  tea  1  shilling  6  pence  to  7  shillings  6  pence  per 
pound;  coffee,  best,  15  shillings,  Vo  penes,  but  very  good  for  4  shillings 
V2  pence  per  pound;  loaf  sugar  is  7  pence,  if  good  season,  GVz  pence; 
burnt  sugar  for  3  V2  pence  to  5  pence  per  pound  of  your  currency ;  and 
indeed  everything  in  that  way  is  very  cheap. 

The  people  here  only  eat  three  meals  a  day ;  breakfast  at  6  in  the 
morning,  dinner  at  12,  and  supper  or  tea  at  6  in  the  evening.  They 
have  plenty  of  meat  on  the  table  for  each  meal  whatever  house  you  go 
into.     All  classes  eat  very  much  alike  and  about  the  same  times. 

Poverty  is  rai'ely  known  here  except  among  the  intemperate  or  idle. 
Old  people,  widows  and  orphans  are  very  well  taken  care  of.  The 
law  of  the  land  is  very  lenient  to  the  actual  poor,  but  very  much  other- 
wise to  imposfers.  I  have  only  seen  three  people  begging,  two  of  them 
Irish  and  one  a   German. 

Since  the  time  I  left,  is  there  any  fresh  duty?  They  do  not  know 
what  duty  is  here,  only  on  goods  imported.  The  farmers  in  this  coun- 
try are  usually  free-holders.  There  is  not  one  farmer  out  of  a  hundred 
but   what    lives   on   his   own   land,    and   they    are   generally   very   wealthy. 


42  EARLY  HISTORY 

Mimufiicturors  sire  increasing  very  fast  here;  they  are  short  of  hands 
and  capital,  botli  iiu-reasinfr  very  fast.  We  have  had  some  very  bad 
times  this  .lutumn  in  the  money  market,  but  it  is  improving  again  very 
fast. 

In  about  tlirec  weeks  from  this  time  our  furnace  will  have  fire  in  it. 
We  are  going  to  build  another  in  the  spring. 

John  Thomas  is  here  and  he  is  a  good  boy,  very  strong  and  indus- 
trious.    He  sends  his  best  regards  to  his  mother. 

Please  address  your  letter  to  David  Thomas,  Crane  Iron  Works,  near 
Allentown,    Lehigh  Co.,    Pa. 

I    am,    my    dear   old    friend. 

Your  sincere  old   friend, 

DAVID  THOMAS. 

CHARACTER  OF  EMPLOYEES— The  men  era- 
ployed  at  the  furnaces  Avere  mostly  Irishmen.  There 
were  some  Welshmen  and  Germans,  but  as  a  rule  they 
were  employed  round-about  the  furnaces.  Catholics 
and  Protestants  were  employed  in  equal  numbers  so 
far  as  possible.  This  prevented  any  combinations  and 
strikes  among  them  and  preserved  the  peace  of  the 
hamlet.  The  government  of  the  village  in  its  early 
days  was  fraternal,  that  is,  that  part  connected  with 
the  furnaces. 

The  temperance  movement  was  strong.  There  was  a 
division  called  the  "George  Crane  Division"  for 
adults  and  the  "Crystal  Fount  Section"  for  boys. 
The  meeting  place  was  in  a  hall  where  the  Crane  Iron 
Co.  stables  are  now.  Every  one  was  expected  to  join 
the  movement  and  if  not,  he  had  to  give  a  reason 
why.  The  result  was  one  of  great  influence.  The 
adults  were  led  to  save  their  money  so  that  many 
of  them,  upon  leaving  Avith  their  families,  purchased 
farms  in  the  vicinity  of  Quincy,  111.,  and  their  de- 
scendants are  among  the  substantial  citizens  of  that 
section.  Of  all  the  young  men  who  grew  to  manhood 
under  this  influence,  I  never  heard  of  one  who  filled 
a  drunkard's  grave. 

A  peculiarity  of  this  growing  hamlet  before  1853 
was  its  seclusiveness  from  the  neighboring  towns  and 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  43 

villages.  It  was  mostly  inhabited  by  foreigners  who 
naturally  brought  the  habits  and  customs  of  their  own 
country  with  them,  and  had  a  rather  quiet,  contented 
life  without  newspapers  to  excite  or  distract  their 
minds  or  locomotives  and  heavy  trains  of  cars  to  break 
the  stillness  of  the  country  air.  The  Sabbath  day  was 
honored  by  them  and  the  ' '  Old  Church ' '  in  the  woods 
on  Church  street  was  generally  filled  by  attentive  lis- 
teners. The  community  was  made  up  of  young  and 
middle  aged  men,  and  possessed  many  promising  boys 
and  girls  who  had  time  and  opportunities  to  develop 
knowledge,  as  well  as  health  and  strength,  in  this 
region  by  the  side  of  the  Lehigh  river.  Employment 
in  the  growing  iron  works  was  steady  and  the  men 
remained  the  same  from  year  to  year. 

LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS— The  first  work  done 
in  the  village  in  1839  was  the  building  of  a  frame 
house  opposite  the  site  of  the  furnaces  (now  occupied 
by  Hungarians),  which  within  six  months  after  com- 
ing to  this  country,  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Thomas  and 
his  family.  After  he  was  fairly  settled,  my  father 
visited  him  and  was  invited  to  partake  of  shell- 
barks  (a  dish  being  on  the  table)  which  he  and  his 
wife  were  cracking  between  their  teeth  like  squirrels. 

There  was  built  at  the  same  time  a  row  of  "shan- 
ties" from  Second  street  to  Limestone  alley;  also 
frame  houses  from  Limestone  alley  to  near  Hower- 
town  Road,  which  were  surrounded  by  a  front  yard, 
with  fences  neatly  whitewashed  and  the  occupants 
were  the  clerks  and  bosses  at  the  works.  This  was  the 
"boulevard"  of  the  village. 

A  brick  row  was  built  on  Wood  street  from  Lime- 
stone alley  to  Howertown  Road,  and  each  house  was 
generally  occupied  by  four  families.  Some  of  their  de- 
scendants now  living  in  large  houses  were  born  here. 

In  1839  there  were  few,  if  any,  coal  burning  stoves. 
Every  thrifty  tenant  had  his  cord  of  wood  sawed, 
chopped  and  piled  in  the  cellar. 


44  EARLY  HISTORY 

Bake-oveiis  were  erected;  one  on  Wood  Street,  the 
other  on  Church ;  and  their  fires  were  burning  from 
INloiuhiy  morning  till  Saturday  night,  for  the  neigh- 
bors took  their  turn.  The  dough  was  prepared  and 
placed  in  straw  l)askets;  then,  by  a  dexterous  move- 
ment, upturned  on  a  wooden  tray  or  shovel,  and 
pushed  into  the  ovens,  on  the  burning  embers.  Oc- 
casionally, some  belated  house-wife  would  come  and 
beg  the  privilege  of  putting  only  a  small  pie  into  the 
oven  if  there  were  still  room. 

After  the  water  was  introduced,  several  spigots 
were  on  AVood  and  Church  streets,  the  only  streets  in 
the  village  where  the  mains  were  laid.  The  water 
was  taken  from  the  Lehigh  river,  but  then  it  was  free 
from  impurities  and  adulterations. 

Streets — The  first  streets  were  opened  on  the  land 
of  Frederick  Biery,  from  Race  street  to  Wood,  as  far 
as  his  land  extended.  As  the  village  grew  in  the  cen- 
tre, Second  street  was  opened  to  Church  and  made 
crooked  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  buildings  already 
erected.  When  it  was  extended  to  Middle  alley,  a 
stop  was  made  at  the  line  of  Henry  Breisch's  land  and 
the  street  was  fenced  off.  Prior  to  this  time.  Second 
street  had  been  opened  by  John  Peter  from  Bridge 
street  north,  and  when  Second  street  was  extended 
northward  another  crook  was  necessary  to  make  the 
connection.  Meanwhile.  Bridge  street  was  opened, 
and,  in  order  to  make  it  correspond  with  Church 
street,  it  also  was  made  crooked,  otherwise  the  lines 
would  have  overlapped  and  the  lots  Avould  have  be- 
come too  long.  Strange  to  say,  the  alleys  between 
Church  and  Bridge  streets  were  run  as  if  these  streets 
were  at  right  angles.  The  consequence  was  that  the 
lots  on  Bridge  street  at  alleys  were  sliced  off  at  the 
point  of  intersection.  While  this  w^as  not  considered 
when  the  lots  were  cheap,  in  after  years,  when  parties 
began  to  measure  up  and  find  themselves  short  from  8 
to  12  inches,  law  suits  arose,  bitter  feeling  was  devel- 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  45 

oped  and  expensive  litigation  naturally  followed. 
Such  was  the  situation  on  both  sides  of  the  street  but 
it  would  not  have  occurred  if  the  points  of  intersection 
had  been  a  right  angle. 

In  1839,  there  were  four  public  roads  which  lay 
within  the  present  boundary  of  Catasaucjua  : 

One  extended  from  the  dam  along  the  canal  west  of  the  Faust  farm 
house,  crossing  Front  street  where  it  is  intersected  by  Chapel  street, 
and  proceeding  due  east  along  the  north  side  of  the  Breisch  farm  house 
(near  the  site  of  Dr.  Daniel  Voder's  residence)  to  the  Howertown  Road. 

The  second  from  the  Biery  grist  mill  due  east  over  the  Deily  hill  by 
tlie  farm  house  to  a  point  where  the  road  forks  in  the  ijrd  Ward  toward 
Bethlehem. 

The  t}nrd  from  the  mill  race  over  tlie  county  bridge  in  the  3rd  Ward. 

And  the  fourth,  the  Howertown  Road  which  originally  extended  due 
north  on  the  west  side  of  the  Biery  farm  house  to  a  point  at  Union 
street  where  it  joined  the  road  as  it  is  at  'present,  the  last  portion 
having  been   vacated  long   ago. 

In  1841,  Front  street  was  laid  out  by  the  Court 
of  Quarter  Sessions,  but  it  was  known  for  some  time 
as  Cinder  street  because  the  slag  from  the  furnaces 
was  hauled  on  it  to  make  it  passable  in  wet  weather. 
It  was  graded  in  1853  by  Elias  Mertz,  surveyor,  right 
after  the  incorporation  of  the  borough,  which  lowered 
the  surface  several  feet  between  Union  street  and 
School  alley,  and  retiuired  high  stoops  before  the 
residences,  as  they  are  now  seen. 

In  1848,  Second  street  w'as  laid  out  from  Race  to 
Church,  by  direction  of  the  Court. 

Building  Lots — During  the  period  from  1845  to 
1860,  this  tow^n  grew  in  population.  The  Biery  lots 
were  sold  on  Front  and  Second  streets  to  Wood  and 
John  Peter  sold  his  lots  on  those  streets  from  Bridge 
to  the  borough  line.  The  balance  of  the  Peter  farm 
was  sold  to  David  Thomas,  and  Henry  Breisch  also 
sold  his  farm,  lying  between  Second  and  Third 
streets,  from  Church  to  Pine,  to  David  Thomas;  but 
Thomas  for  years  sold  very  few  lots,  which  eventually 
proved  to  be  a  good  feature,  because  it  paved  the  way 


46  EARLY  HISTORY 

for  many  fine  residences  l)etween  Second  street  and 
Plowertovvn  Road  and  t'roni  Bridge  street  to  Walnut. 
Tliird  street  was  only  opened  in  1870,  twelve  years 
prioi-  to  his  death;  and  Fourth  and  Fifth  streets 
were  opened  some  years  after  his  death  in  the  settle- 
ment of  his  estate.  The  population  at  this  time  was 
2,853. 

War  was  in  the  air  during  the  close  of  this  period. 
The  "Wide  Awakes,"  a  Republican  Association,  pa- 
raded the  streets  with  torches  and  uniforms  and  many 
fears  were  entertained  what  another  year  might 
bring  forth. 

Bridges — There  were  two  bridges  across  the  river  in 
the  earlv  liistorv  of  the  town;  and  a  third  was  erected 
in  1906! 

Bicry  Bridge — On  March  5,  1824,  an  Act  of  Assem- 
bly was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  to 
establish  and  maintain  a  toll  bridge  across  the  Lehigh 
river  at  Biery's-Port  and  in  this  behalf  the  following 
Commissioners  were  appointed  to  carry  its  provisions 
into  effect  by  securing  subscriptions  of  stock  at  $25 
a  share,  viz. : 

Owen  Rice,  of  Bethlehem. 

Jacob  Blumer,  of  Northampton  Borough. 

George  Yundt,  of  South  Whitehall. 

Peter  Ruch,  of  North  Whitehall. 

Frederick  Biery  and  John  Sterner,  of  Hanover. 

The  response  in  subscriptions  w^as  sufficient  to  en- 
courage this  necessary  improvement,  and  in  this  be- 
half an  election  was  held  on  July  24,  1824,  for  a  pres- 
ident, four  managers  and  treasurer  of  the  Company, 
which  resulted  as  follows: 

President — Owen   Rice   of   Bethlehem. 

Manaijers — Frederick    Biery,    Philip    Faust,    Charles    1).     Bishop    and 

George   Helfridjje. 
Treasurer — Joseph  Biery. 

And  on  the  26th  of  July,  Jacob  Blumer  was  ap- 
pointed secretary  of  the  Board. 

Peter  Miller  agreed  to  grant  as  much  land  on  the 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  47 

western  or  "Pennsylvania"  shore  of  the  river  as  the 
Board  might  deem  necessary  for  the  consideration  of 
$10  and  "free  passage  over  the  bridge  for  himself 
and  his  wife  during  their  natural  life-time;"  and 
Frederick  Biery  agreed  to  grant  sufficient  land  on  the 
eastern  or  "Jersey"  shore  in  consideration  "that  he, 
his  family  and  sons,  as  well  as  those  in  his  employ, 
should  cross  free  for  the  term  of  20  years." 

The  Board  accepted  these  offers,  and  decided  that 
the  bridge  should  be  built  with  two  chains,  and  the 
passage-way  should  be  13  feet  wide  in  the  clear. 

Peter  Rumbel  agreed  to  supply  all  the  lumber  at 
the  following  rates : 

White  Oak  at  $13  per  1,000  feet;  Pine  at  $10;  Hemlook  at  $9; 
Shinsrles  at  $7.50;   Half-price  boards  at  $5, 

Jacob  Blumer.  the  secretary,  was  also  appointed  to 
superintend  the  construction  of  the  bridge. 
The  rates  of  toll  were  as  follows : — 

For    every    Coach,    Landau,    Pliaeton.    or    other    pleasure    carriage    with 
4  wheels;   or  every  sleigh  or   sled  drawn   by   4  horses     25        cents 

For  carriage  with   two  horses    18%    cents 

For  every  4-horse  wagon  loaded    25        cents 

For  single   horse   and   rider    6I4    cents 

For    every    hnrsc    or    mule     4        cents 

For    every    head    of    horned    cattle     -        cents 

For  foot  passengers    1        cent 

For   all   carriages   drawn    wholly   or   in   part   by   oxen,    two   oxen   shall   be 

estimated  as  one  horse. 
For  carriage  and  6  horses,   37%    cents;   5   horses,   31 14    cents;    3   horses. 
20  cents. 

The  practice  of  granting  passage  by  the  year  was 
common,  the  rates  paid  ranging  from  $1  to  $4.50. 

The  shares  of  stock  were  regarded  as  of  great  value. 
The  dividends  were  declared  semi-annually,  being 
from  75  cents  to  $1  per  share. 

When  the  Crane  Iron  Works  started  operations,  the 
rate  of  toll  was  fixed  at  $3  for  a  weight  not  exceeding 
15,000  tons. 

The  great  freshet  of  1841  swept  away  the  bridge ; 
but  a  similar  chain  bridge  was  immediately  put  up  in 
its  place. 


48  EARLY  HISTORY 

The  chains  were  anchored  in  stone  foundations  on 
both  sides  of  the  river ;  the  ends,  and  the  middle  where 
the  chains  rested,  were  topped  with  a  frame  cover  to 
protect  them  from  the  weather;  and  these  tops  at  a 
distance  looked  like  a  fortress.  The  sides  of  the  bridge 
were  open.  In  the  Lehigh  Water  Gap,  there  still  re- 
mains a  chain  bridge  which  resembles  the  construction 
of  tlie  old  Biery  Bridge. 

About  1850,  this  bridge  was  regarded  as  unsafe  be- 
cause it  swung  to  and  fro  while  a  team  passed  over  it. 
Therefore,  steps  were  taken  to  erect  another  bridge  in 
its  place  and  the  following  Notice  was  advertised  in 
the  newspapers  and  posted  in  the  vicinity  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  subscriptions  of  stock : 

Notice  is  hereby  given  that  in  accordance  with  an  Act  of  Assembly, 
incorporating  a  company  to  build  a  bridge  over  the  river  Lehigh  under 
the  name  of  "The  President,  Managers  and  Company  of  the  Lehigh 
County  Bridge  at  or  near  Biery's  Mills;"  books  for  subscription  of 
stock  for  said  purpose  will  be  opened  on  Monday,  the  26th  day  of  July, 
at  the  public  house  of  Nathan  Frederick  in  Biery's-Port,  to  be  kept  open 
for  three  successive  days,   for  6  hours  each  day : 

Joseph    Laubach  Peter  Troxell 

George    Breinig  Joshua    Miller 

Daniel    Newhard  David    Troxell 

Henry  Kurtz.  James   Gangewere 

David    Eberhard  Charles    S.    Bush 

June   24,    1852.  Commissioners. 

The  bridge  was  removed  in  1852  and  a  covered 
wooden  bridge  was  erected  in  its  place  with  trusses 
in  the  centre  for  support,  and  a  double  drive-way. 
The  total  cost  was  $14,954.  It  was  destroyed  by  the 
great  flood  of  1862,  but  immediately  rebuilt  in  the 
same  style.  The  trusses  however  were  at  the  ends, 
and  there  was  only  one  drive-way.  The  total  cost 
was  $5,161.    The  dividends  were  about  12%  per  annum. 

This  bridge  was  maintained  by  the  Company  until 
1892,  when  it  was  purchased  by  the  County  author- 
ities; then  a  new  iron  bridge  was  substituted  at  the 
joint  cost  of  the  County,  the  Lehigh  Valley  R.  R.  Co. 
and  the  A.  &  B.  Rapid  Transit  Co.,  amounting  to 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  49 

$19,000,  which  was  paid  as  follows : — County,  $10,500 ; 
L.  V.  R.  R.  Co.,  $8,000;  Rapid  Transit  Co.,  $500. 

The  trolley  line  from  Allentown  to  the  west  end  of 
the  bridge,  and  from  the  east  end  to  Siegfried,  was 
built  in  1891,  and  for  thirteen  months  the  passengers 
traveling  to  and  fro  walked  across  a  temporary  struc- 
ture. 

Crane  Iron  Co.  Bridge — About  1845,  the  Crane  Iron 
Co.  felt  the  necessity  of  a  separate  bridge  for  its  use, 
because  iron  ore  beds  were  discovered  at  different 
places  in  Whitehall  and  South  Whitehall  townships, 
and  the  hauling  of  the  ore  around  by  way  of  the 
Biery  Bridge  came  to  be  considered  as  a  serious  item, 
and  they  therefore  determined  to  erect  a  public 
bridge  up  the  river  half  a  mile  above  the  Biery 
Bridge.  But  they  found  a  statute  of  Pennsylvania 
in  the  way  which  interfered  with  their  project,  be- 
cause it  was  too  near  the  bridge  mentioned  and  the 
Legislature  would  not  grant  another  charter  which 
Avould  disturb  vested  rights.  To  avoid  this  objection, 
they  purchased  land  on  both  sides  of  the  river  where 
the  bridge  was  desired,  and  erected  a  private  bridge 
for  themselves.  But  the  traveling  public  soon  dis- 
covered that  this  bridge  could  be  used  free  from  any 
charges  of  toll  and  it  came  to  be  used  therefore  as  a 
general  highway ;  indeed,  at  times  the  teams  became  so 
numerous  that  they  extended  in  a  continuous  row 
from  the  entrance  of  the  Fairview  Cemetery  across  the 
bridge  to  the  Company's  office. 

A  statute  provided  that  as  soon  as  the  Crane  Iron 
Co.  acquired  the  majority  of  the  stock  of  the  Biery 
Bridge  Co.,  they  could  then  charge  toll  for  passing 
over  their  private  bridge. 

When  the  Catasauqua  &  Fogelsville  R.  R.  was 
constructed  in  1857,  this  bridge  was  strengthened 
so  that  the  company  could  lay  a  railroad  track  on  it, 
and  haul  cars  loaded  with  iron  ore  over  it,  drawn  by 
a  small  locomotive,  to  their  works.     This  engine  was 


50  EARLY  HISTORY 

named  ''Hercules."  The  bridge  was  swept  away  by 
the  flood  of  1862,  antl  a  covered  wooden  bridge  was 
immediately  erected  in  its  place.  Later  an  iron 
bridge  was  substituted  by  the  company. 

Pine  Si.  Bridge — In  1906-07,  the  county  authorities 
erected  a  superior  iron  bridge  across  the  river,  a 
short  distance  above  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  l^ridge.  at 
Pine  street,  to  facilitate  inter-communication  between 
Catasau(iua  and  West  Catasauqua.  This  bridge  had 
been  agitated  for  many  years,  but  it  was  realized  at 
last.  It  is  now  much  appreciated  for  its  great  utility. 
The  abutment  at  the  eastern  end  was  constructed  at 
the  cost  of  the  borough  of  Catasaucjua,  and  that  at  the 
western  end  by  the  township  of  Whitehall. 

Flood  of  1862 — Catasauqua  was  the  scene  of  great 
excitement  during  the  flood  of  June  4-5,  1862,  when 
the  water  rose  above  its  usual  level  from  24  to  27 
feet,  and  was  about  4i/2  feet  higher  than  the  flood  of 
1841.  All  the  bridges,  with  a  number  of  small  build- 
ings, great  quantities  of  lumber  and  fencing  materials, 
and  many  wagons,  etc.,  were  carried  away.  The  en- 
gineer of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  remained  in  the  engine- 
room  and  was  instrumental  in  rescuing  several  per- 
sons from  drowning.  Many  of  the  boats  which  were 
here,  loaded  with  ore  from  New  Jersey,  were  lost 
including  the  possessions  of  the  boatsmen.  A  German 
family  from  Newark  (man,  wife  and  two  children) 
were  on  their  boat  at  Parryville  when  the  flood  tore 
it  loose ;  they  reached  Catasauqua  but  the  boat  was 
wrecked  below  the  town,  and  all  they  had  was  their 
clothing  on  their  backs.  Another  family  from  Stan- 
hope, N.  J.,  also  lost  their  boat  and  all  their  clothing; 
they  were  knocked  off  the  boat  and  rescued,  excepting 
an  infant,  fourteen  months  old,  which  was  drowned. 
When  morning  dawned,  two  men  were  discovered  on 
a  cinderbank,  in  the  midst  of  the  river ;  and  at  an 
other  point  a  man  and  boy  were  on  a  tree.  A  father 
was  on  a  tree  near  by,  and  his  screaming  daughter 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  51 

on  another ;  and  a  little  girl  was  seen  holding  on  to  a 
ledge  at  an  arch  of  tlie  Biery  Bridge.  Fruitless  at- 
tempts were  made  to  save  these  people  by  a  raft  at- 
tached to  a  rope,  but  the  current  was  too  strong; 
finally  the  superintendent  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co. 
rescued  them  by  means  of  a  flat-bottom  boat,  made 
by  his  carpenters,  after  struggling  heroically  for  ■ 
more  than  an  hour. 

The  scene  was  awful  to  behold.  While  standing  on 
the  river  bank,  the  roaring  torrent  could  be  distinct- 
ly heard,  and  also  the  agonizing  cries  of  men,  women 
and  children,  who  were  carried  along  on  logs,  boats, 
etc.  Below  the  town  a  house  was  swept  from  its  foun- 
dations and  carried  down  the  valley  ;  and  at  Wheeler's 
locks  several  houses  and  barns  with  household  goods, 
animals  and  other  contents  were  swept  away.  Words 
cannot  describe  the  loss  and  suffering. 

Relating  to  the  flood  of  1841,  mentioned  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  foregoing  article,  the  following  entry 
was  made  in  the  books  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.,  to  show 
how  it  affected  the  works : — 

"Oil  Thursday,  .Tanuary  7th,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening:,  the 
river  rose  .so  that  the  back  water  prevented  the  wheel  from  turning,  at 
half  after  ten  covering  the  tow-path  of  the  level  above  lock  36.  At 
twelve  it  was  two  feet  over  the  banks,  and  was  one  foot  over  the 
bottom  (if  tlie  hearth  of  the  furnace.  At  1.20  the  water  was  at  its 
height,  and  34  inches  in  the  furnace.  It  was  at  its  height  until  3.30 
o'clock  when  the  river  began  to  fall.  The  water  wheel  was  muddied 
all  over  and  the  water  was  nine  inches  over  its  top.  The  dam  and 
canal  bank  was  broken  so  that  when  the  water  fell  in  the  river  it  was 
too  low  to  turn  the  wheel,  though  every  etTort  was  made  to  fill  up 
the  bank,  but  they  could  not  succeed  and  were  obliged  to  throw  the 
furnace  nut  on   Moiidny,   the   11th   of  January. 

d.avid    th0m.4s 
Tho.mas    S.    Young." 
[The  furnace  was  blown  in  again  on  May  18,  1841.] 

Canal — The  navigation  of  the  Lehigh  river  was 
agitated  for  many  years,  beginning  as  early  as  1771, 
and  legislation  was  enacted  relating  to  it  from  that 
time  till  1820  and  afterward.    The  Lehigh  Navigation 


52  EARLY  HISTORY 

Co.  was  incorporatetl  in  March,  1818,  and  in  October 
following,  the  Lehigh  Coal  Co.,  and  in  1820  the  two 
were  consolidated  into  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Naviga- 
tion Co.  Then  it  was  that  active  operations  were  be- 
gun in  the  construction  of  a  canal  which  was  to  extend 
along  the  river  from  White  Haven  to  Easton  and  they 
were  carried  on  with  determination. 

The  great  enterprise  was  completed  from  Easton  to 
Mauch  Chunk  in  1828  and  a  favorable  report  of  spe- 
cial commissioners  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania 
was  made  July  3,  1829.  Three  men  were  particularly 
prominent  in  its  advocacy,  construction  and  comple- 
tion, Josiah  White,  Erskine  Hazard  and  Mr.  Hauto. 

In  the  course  of  its  construction,  a  lock  was  placed 
at  a  point  which  came  to  be  in  front  of  the  furnace  at 
Catasauqua ;  dimensions  of  22  feet  wide  by  95  feet 
long,  with  a  drop  of  8  feet  from  one  level  to  the  other. 
The  number  in  the  system  is  36.  The  next  lock  to  the 
north  is  about  a  mile  distant;  and  the  next  to  the 
south  also  a  mile. 

Grain  and  coal  were  ' '  floated ' '  down  the  river  to  the 
Delaware  river,  and  thence  to  Philadelphia,  on  flat- 
bottomed  boats  called  "arks,"  and  these  "arks"  were 
sold  there  because  they  could  not  be  taken  back 
against  the  current.  In  passing  Biery's-Port  these 
boats  attracted  much  attention.  When  the  canal  came 
to  be  opened  for  transportation  in  1828  the  movement 
of  the  boats  through  the  locks  excited  as  much  public 
interest  for  a  time  as  the  "casting"  of  iron  in  the 
furnace  in  1840. 

The  first  excursion  to  Biery's-Port  on  the  canal  was 
made  by  a  party  from  Allentown  and  an  "ark"  was 
used  to  carry  the  excursionists.  The  boat  was  hand- 
somely decorated  with  American  flags  for  the  occasion. 
This  occurred  on  Friday,  June  26,  1829.  Ogden  E. 
Frederick  recalls  how  his  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  James 
W.  Fuller,  with  much  spirit  narrated  the  trip  many 
years  ago.     She  was  amongst  the  party,  having  ac- 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  53 

tompanied  her  parents,  then  a  girl  (Clarissa  Miller  ) 
11  years  old.  She  remembers  distinctly  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  boat  and  the  great  pleasure  the  ex- 
traordinary trip  aflforded.  Two  horses  pulled  the 
boat,  and  though  the  movement  on  the  water  was  slow, 
the  sensation  was  pleasing  and  the  passing  scenery 
truly  picturesque  and  inspiring,  much  bej^ond  what 
she  had  yet  experienced. 

Another  occurrence,  worthy  of  mention,  was  several 
years  afterwards  when  many  of  this  community  went 
by  boat  to  Easton  to  wdtness  the  hanging  of  a  man 
named  Getter,  on  a  small  island  in  the  Delaware 
river.  My  mother  accompanied  her  parents  (Mr.  and 
Mrs.  John  Swartz)  who  joined  other  parents  (Owen 
Frederick,  Frederick  Biery,  Jacob  Deily  and  John 
Peter)  ;  and  I  recall  the  spirit  she  displayed  in  de- 
scribing the  incidents  of  the  novel  trip  to  and  fro, 
the  great  crowd  on  the  hill-side  at  Easton  (now  the 
site  of  Lafayette  College)  which  overlooked  the  awful 
scene  of  the  public  execution  of  a  condemned  mur- 
derer, the  terrifying  screams  of  the  multitude  that 
broke  the  awful  stillness  when  the  rope  snapped  as 
the  criminal  dropped,  the  startling  movement  of  the 
official  witnesses  about  the  scaffold,  and  the  rapid 
horseback  ride  of  the  sheriff  to  the  nearest  store  for  a 
new  rope  and  back  to  the  scaffold  to  resume  the  per- 
formance of  his  legal  duty  and  complete  the  execu- 
tion. The  reader  of  these  reminiscences  of  Catasau- 
qua  can  well  imagine  my  intense  interest  as  a  boy 
in  a  mother 's  tale  of  such  an  event  in  its  early  history. 

Boat-Yards — Along  the  canal,  from  1845  to  1865, 
two  boat-yards  were  carried  on  for  the  building  and 
repair  of  boats ;  one  of  them  by  Bogh  Brothers,  situa- 
ted on  the  site  of  the  Fire  Brick  Works  between  Wal- 
nut and  Chapel  streets,  and  the  other  by  Ginder  & 
Rehrig  on  the  site  of  the  lowlands  opposite  the  Cata- 
sauqua  Hotel. 


54  EARLY  HISTORY 

Railroad — Tt  was  in  the  fall  of  1855  that  the  first 
locomotive,  the  "General  Wall,"  horrowed  from  the 
Central  R.  R.  of  N.  J.,  with  a  passenger  car  attached, 
came  to  CatasaiKjua,  which  was  as  far  as  rails  had 
been  laid.  It  was  a  gala  day  for  the  new  borough, 
only  two  years  old.  On  this  train  were  citizens  from 
Easton  including  Thomas  McKean  (then  90  years  old) 
and  an  army  office  on  recruiting  service.  A  dinner 
Avas  had  at  the  Eagle  Hotel,  while  flags  were  flying 
and  bands  playing.  After  dinner  a  procession  was 
formed  which  marched  to  Hokendauqua,  to  view  the 
furnace  just  erected  there. 

On  the  way  from  Allentown,  the  train  ran  slowly, 
stopping  now  and  then  to  cut  down  projecting  limbs 
of  trees  which  hung  over  the  track. 

David  Kline,  a  painter  by  trade,  was  the  first 
agent  and  the  first  freight  he  brought  over  the  bridge 
on  a  wheel-barrow. 

Water  Works — When  Catasauqua  was  founded  in 
1839  by  officials  of  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation 
Co.,  the  water  rights  and  land  west  of  the  canal,  from 
the  Hokendauqua  Dam  to  the  Allentown  Dam  were 
ceded  to  the  Lehigh  Crane  Iron  Co.  as  a  substantial 
inducement  to  those  capitalists  to  erect  furnaces  here 
and  develop  an  increased  market  for  coal  and  as  a 
feeder  to  the  canal  project.  At  that  time,  the  towns 
along  the  Lehigh  river  north  to  the  coal  mines  were 
few,  and  it  never  entered  into  the  minds  of  the  in- 
vestors that  the  stream  would  become  the  sewer  system 
of  numerous  populous  boroughs  and  hundreds  of  coal 
mines. 

When  No.  1  furnace  was  erected,  the  blast  power 
was  secured  from  the  canal,  the  original  canal  having 
been  turned  over  to  the  Iron  Company  for  power  and 
landing  ores  and  coal,  and  a  new  canal  having  been 
excavated,  and  used  thereafter  as  the  main  line.  The 
pump  to  furnish  water  for  furnace  use  was  attached 
to  the  blast  wheel,  which  remained  in  use  until  No.  3 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  55 

furnace  was  completed  in  1844.  More  extensive  water 
facilities  for  the  town  were  reciiiired  and  then  a  4-ineh 
main  was  laid  from  the  pump  to  Wood  street,  up 
Wood  to  Second,  up  Second  to  Church,  and  thence  to  a 
basin  located  on  that  street  above  Church  alley. 

When  this  was  about  to  be  done  it  would  seem 
that  David  Thomas  wrote  to  his  son  Samuel  then  at 
Nazareth  (going  to  school  there),  to  stop  off  at  Beth- 
lehem and  take  measurements  of  the  pump  used  there 
to  supply  water  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  town,  as  he 
intended  to  supply  water  to  the  company's  houses  on 
Church  and  Wood  streets.  Richard  W.  Leibert,  who 
is  still  living  at  Bethlehem,  supplied  him  with  the  de- 
sired information.  Work  was  then  commenced  with- 
out a  charter  and  in  time  the  mains  were  extended,  a 
reservoir  was  built  on  Church  street,  and  later  on  rear 
of  Walnut  between  5th  and  6tli  streets.  A  charter  was 
subsequently  obtained  and  the  company  furnished  the 
Avater  until  its  merger  with  the  Clear  Springs  AVater 
Co. 

The  leakage  from  the  old  company  reservoir  eventu- 
ally undermined  the  limestone  soil,  and  necessitated 
its  abandonment  and  a  wooden  tank  was  erected.  In 
1854,  a  4-inch  main  was  laid  on  Front  street,  as  far  as 
Bridge,  and  in  1856,  a  3-inch  main  was  extended  up 
Second  street,  as  far  as  Strawberry  alley,  to  supply 
the  new  residence  of  David  Thomas. 

This  pipe  was  recently  discovered  while  laying  the 
new  mains  on  that  street,  and  it  was  found  almost 
closed  with  corrosion.  The  same  year  the  Front  street 
main  was  extended  to  the  new  rolling  mill,  and  sub- 
sequently as  far  as  Puddlers'  Row,  above  Chapel. 

By  1872,  the  demands  upon  the  water  supply  had 
increased  so  largely  that  the  company  decided  to 
make  extensive  improvements,  and  spent  $25,000.  On 
Front  street  from  Wood  to  Bridge  an  8-inch  main  was 
laid ;  Second,  Union  to  Chapel,  a  10-inch  main ;  4-inch 
main  on  Union  and  Chapel  streets;  10-inch  main  on 


56  EARLY  HISTORY 

Bridge,  from  Fi-oiit  to  Second;  and  10-ineli  main  on 
Walnut  to  Fonrth,  where  connections  were  made  with 
a  r2-inch  main  leading  to  a  new  stone  and  concrete 
reservoir  on  Currant  alley,  above  Walnut,  the  highest 
point  in  the  town.  A  new  pumping  station  was  built 
below  No.  6  furnace,  23  by  25  feet  in  dimensions,  with 
water  and  steam  pumps  having  a  capacity  of  forcing 
185,000  gallons  of  water  per  day.  A  nearby  stand- 
pipe,  to  equalize  the  pressure  upon  the  pipes,  was 
also  built. 

The  use  of  the  canal  water  for  household  purposes 
became  objectionable,  and  some  years  since  an  artesian 
well  was  drilled  adjoining  the  pumping  station  and 
alternating  filters  erected  to  overcome  to  some  degree 
the  frecjuent  filthiness  of  the  river  water.  The  com- 
pany requiring  more  room  for  storage  purposes,  a  36- 
inch  main  was  extended  on  the  canal  bed,  from  a  point 
facing  the  canal  below  the  bridge,  which  carried  water 
to  the  foreba}^  at  the  machine  shop,  and  pumping  sta- 
tion, while  another  of  similar  size  ran  from  the  fore- 
bay  in  front  of  No.  5  furnace  and  extended  to  the  tur- 
bines opposite  No.  1 ;  the  feeder  canal  was  then  aband- 
oned and  filled  in,  giving  the  company  large  storage 
space  in  front  of  the  furnaces. 

All  the  town  gutters  and  refuse  from  manufac- 
turing places  north  of  Bridge  street  drained  into  the 
canal,  the  surface  of  which  frequently  presented  mys- 
terious compositions. 

For  many  years  the  revenues  of  the  water  system 
were  not  given  close  attention,  and  reverses  coming 
to  the  Crane  Iron  Co.,  the  receiver  made  overtures  to 
the  original  owners,  and  the  water  and  land  rights, 
with  some  reservations,  passed  from  control  of  the 
company  back  to  the  Navigation  Company  and  also  to 
the  Clear  Springs  Water  Co.,  which  had  secured  char- 
ters for  all  the  surrounding  country. 

Council  then  reduced  the  number  of  fire  hydrants 
to  twenty-three,  owing  to  the  demands  of  the  new 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  57 

regulations  and  when  in  January,  1908,  the  rates  to 
consumers  were  announced,  many  discontinued  the 
use  of  the  water.  The  Fire  and  Water  Committee  hav- 
ing been  directed  to  make  an  investigation  and  report 
cost  of  establishing  a  municipal  plant,  a  public  meet- 
ing was  called  in  the  Town  Hall,  Thursday,  July  23, 
when  it  was  proposed  to  ask  the  tax-payers  for  a  loan 
of  $80,000  to  sink  wells,  and  proceed  with  the  erection 
of  a  new  municipal  system.  By  unanimous  direction 
of  Council  it  was  submitted  to  the  tax-payers  at  the 
November  election,  which  resulted  in  polling  776  votes 
in  favor  to  74  against. 

Two  artesian  wells  were  sunk  upon  a  tract  of  land, 
designated  by  a  geologist  sent  by  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  at  Walnut  and  St.  John  streets,  just  east 
of  the  Catasauqua  creek.  The  success  of  the  first  well 
demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  the  designated  spot  and 
the  second  well  was  equally  satisfactory.  The  wells 
are  about  200  feet  deep,  steel  cased  that  depth,  and  are 
10  inches  in  diameter.  They  were  both  tested  bj^  air 
lifts  for  seven  days  and  nights  and  the  supply  of 
water  wag  pronounced  inexhaustible,  the  strata  of 
sandstone  having  been  pierced  the  entire  depth.  The 
State  Board  certified  that  it  was  perfectly  pure ; 
and  by  practical  tests  at  the  boilers  of  the  plant  it 
was  found  free  from  lime  sediments. 

The  Water  Committee  investigated  other  plants  and 
asked  experienced  engineers  to  come  to  Catasauqua, 
view  the  location  and  prepare  plans  for  a  municipal 
plant.  Dr.  C.  J.  Keim  was  then  serving  as  burgess, 
with  Councilmen  Henry  W.  Stolz,  Alfred  J.  Leh  and 
Martin  Graver  from  the  First  Ward,  and  Thomas 
Jones,  Wm.  McCandless  and  Oscar  Shugar  from  the 
Second  Ward,  all  favorable  to  new  municipal  water 
works.  Detailed  plans  and  specifications  were  formal- 
ly adopted,  and  the  sale  of  the  water  bonds  for  $80,000 
at  4%  was  advertised.  George  H.  Hardner,  the  w^ell- 
known  successful  contractor  of  Allcntown,  became  the 


58  EARLY  HISTORY 

contractor,  and  the  sale  was  made,  three-fourths  of  the 
issue  having  been  taken  by  residents  of  the  borough. 
Work  was  started  in  March,  1910,  and  completed,  the 
following  Octolier. 

Two  e(iuity  suits  were  instituted  by  the  Clear 
Springs  Watei-  Co.  to  resti-ain  the  Borough  from  pro- 
ceeding to  establish  the  water  works,  but  the  Court 
dismissed  both  bills,  deciding  that  their  vested  rights 
w^ere  not  injured. 

F limping  Station — The  pumping  station  is  a  brick 
fire-proof  building,  with  concrete  foundations  and 
floors,  structural,  steel  and  slate  roof,  with  ample  pro- 
portions for  duplicating  the  present  plant.  The 
engine  and  compressor  room  is  50  feet  wide  by  60  feet 
long,  and  boiler  room,  50  by  50  feet,  with  fuel  space 
for  more  than  100  tons.  These  rooms  are  well  lighted, 
provided  with  fire-proof  partitions  and  furnished 
throughout  in  a  neat  and  substantial  manner.  The 
chimney  is  constructed  of  brick  lining  5  feet  square 
inside  and  100  feet  high,  on  concrete  foundation. 

In  the  boiler  room  there  is  a  ])attery  of  two  high- 
pressure  tubular  boilers,  of  100  to  125  horse  power 
each,  set  in  masonry  in  the  most  substantial  manner 
and  with  connections  made  to  pumping  machinery. 

In  the  engine  room  there  are  two  air  compressors  of 
the  Ingersoll-Rand  most  improved  type,  made  to  oper- 
ate condensing,  either  or  both  together,  through  air 
receiver  to  air-lift  system,  with  discharge  from  wells 
into  storage  reservoir ;  also  the  two  large  Piatt  cross 
compound  horizontal  crank  and  fly-wheel  i)umping 
engine,  with  condenser,  of  combined  daily  capacity  of 
two  million  gallons,  made  to  operate,  either  or  both 
together,  wdth  suction  from  storage  reservoir  and  de- 
li ver.y  to  system  of  water  mains. 

The  storage  reservoir  is  72  feet  in  diameter  and  14 
feet  6  inches  deep,  having  a  capacity  of  366,000  gal- 
lons; made  of  brick  concrete  and  steel  construction, 
with  I'oof  of  cement  tiling,  and  ventilator  screened  and 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  59 

protected  from  all  impurities,  which  makes  it  a  most 
fitting  receptical  for  storage  of  water,  direct  from  the 
wells.  The  large  pumping  engines,  with  suction  from 
this  reservoir,  deliver  the  water  through  the  system  of 
water  mains  and  toAver  to  the  people. 

Water  Toiver — ^The  M'ater  tower  is  located  on  the 
hill,  near  Sixth  street  and  Howertown  Road,  North 
Catasauqua.  It  is  of  fine  proportions,  with  steel 
standpipe,  15  feet  in  diameter  and  80  feet  high,  rest- 
ing on  brick  sub-structure  with  stone  trimmings,  rein- 
forced at  the  top  with  heavy  eye  beams.  This  sub- 
structure is  on  octagonal  foundation  of  concrete,  30 
feet  in  diameter.  The  standpipe  is  connected  through 
the  sub-structure  with  main  and  drain  pipes  and 
valves  placed  so  that  the  tower  may  be  used  with  the 
system  or  not,  as  may  be  desired.  The  reservoir  af- 
fords the  city  a  storage  of  about  one-half-million  gal- 
lons of  water  for  use  in  an  emergency  and  as  a  re- 
serve, additional  to  the  capacity  of  the  plant,  should 
there  be  a  serious  conflagration. 

The  weight  of  the  standpipe  and  its  contents  on  sub- 
structure and  foundation  when  filled  is  about  700 
tons.  It  was  erected  by  the  McDermott  Co.,  Allen- 
town. 

Water  Mains — The  system  of  water  mains,  ranging 
from  16  inches  to  6  inches  in  diameter,  with  but  few 
laterals  of  4  inch  pipe,  in  all  about  seven  miles,  laid  in 
the  principal  streets  of  the  borough. 

There  have  been  located  at  the  street  corners  thirty- 
five  Matthews  type  hydrants,  with  6-inch  base  con- 
nections and  two  2i/2  inch  nozzles  for  hose  and  one  4 
inch  nozzle  for  steamer  to  each  hydrant.  This  system 
is  divided  into  63  districts,  any  and  all  of  which  may 
be  shut  off  as  desired.  In  case  of  repairs,  but  one 
square  of  patrons  will  be  inconvenienced  for  a  short 
time. 

From  the  pumping  station  on  Walnut  street  to 
Fifth,  a  16-ineh  artery  carries  the  water;  on  Currant 


60  EARLY  HISTORY 

Mlloy,  from  Wnlnnt  a  12-inch  main  supplies  the  stand 
pipe  12-incli  main  from  Fifth  to  Front  on  Walnut ;  8- 
inch  pipe  on  Front  to  Union,  then  6-inch  to  Race 
then  8-inch  to  Wahnetah,  4-inch  across  the  canal  and 
Central  R.  R.  to  the  Castings  Co.  Works,  where  four 
plugs  secure  lower  rate  of  insurance ;  6-inch  main  en- 
tire length  of  Second;  10-inch  main  on  Fifth;  8-inch 
on  Howertown  Road  to  Union;  10-inch  on  Union  to 
Front;  6-inch  mains  on  Third.  Fourth,  Bridge,  Mul- 
berry, Race  and  American  streets;  4-inch  on  Pine, 
Kurtz,  Church,  Peach,  Wood ;  in  all  about  seven  miles 
in  length.  In  case  a  fire  occurs  in  the  lower  portion  of 
the  town,  mains  on  American  street,  Howertown  Road, 
Second  and  Front  streets  furnish  a  constant  flow. 

Thomas  Jones  is  worthy  of  special  mention  in  the 
establishment  of  this  necessary  improvement  for  the 
public  welfare.  He  came  to  Catasauqua  in  1853  and 
assisted  in  laying  the  water  pipe  in  1854.  For  many 
years  he  was  employed  as  a  machinist  at  the  Crane 
Iron  Works:  then  he  became  master  mechanic  of  the 
Catasauqua  &  Fogelsville  R.  R.  under  its  superintend- 
ent, John  Thomas,  which  position  he  held  until  the 
road  was  acquired  by  the  P.  &  R.  R.  Co.  He  served  in 
town  council  from  1884  to  1889 ;  officiated  as  Burgess 
from  1889  to  1891 ;  and  again  served  in  the  town  coun- 
cil since  1908,  while  this  improvement  was  being  es- 
tablished. 

Edmund  Randall,  the  publisher  of  the  Catasmiqna 
Dispatch,  is  equally  worthy  of  mention  for  his  con- 
tinuous and  persistent  advocacy  of  this  necessary  im- 
provement and  its  ow^nership  by  the  borough. 

Post  Office — For  twelve  years  after  this  settle- 
ment was  started,  the  hamlet  was  called  ' '  Craneville, ' ' 
after  George  Crane  of  Wales  M'ho  was  the  owner  of 
Iron  Works  where  David  Thomas  was  employed  before 
coming  to  this  country.  A  post  office  was  established 
in  1844  at  the  lower  part  of  town  which  for  many 
3^ears  Avas  called  ' '  Biery  's-Port ; ' '  and  upon  the  ap- 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  61 

pointraeiit  of  Nathan  Fegley  as  post-master  in  1846,  it 
was  moved  up  to  the  corner  of  Front  and  Church 
streets. 

Mail  came  three  times  a  week  from  Allentown  to 
Mauch  Chunk  hy  stage,  and  several  times  a  week  from 
Bethlehem  to  Cherryville  by  one  horse  conveyance. 
But  letters  for  this  place  were  frequently  sent  to 
Craneville,  N.  J.,  a  small  town  20  miles  from  New 
York  City  on  this  Easton  stage  route,  which  caused  a 
delay  of  some  days  in  the  delivery  of  letters.  The 
Crane  Iron  Co.  received  their  mail  from  Allentown  by 
private  carrier  w^hich  helped  somewhat.  A  change 
was  agitated  as  early  as  1845,  but  owing  to  the  domi- 
nant party  represented  by  the  old  inhabitants  at  the 
lower  end  of  town,  they  prevented  the  P.  0.  Depart- 
ment from  adopting  various  names  proposed.  Owen 
Rice  was  at  that  time  chief  clerk  at  this  iron  works 
(who,  for  many  years,  had  been  the  scrivener  of  deeds 
for  the  country  hereabouts)  and  learning  from  old 
drafts  made  in  1735  and  later  that  the  creek  flowing 
through  the  east  end  of  the  village  was  named  ' '  Cata- 
sauqua"  (Cattosoque)  he  suggested  the  name  and  it 
was  adopted  by  the  department  in  1846. 

The  following  persons  filled  the  position  of  post- 
master : 

POST  MASTERS 
Samuel   Colver,    1844-46 
Nathan  Fegley  1846-50  Isabella  D.  Duflf  1865-71 

Joseph    Laubach    1850-53  Adalino    Creveling    1871-77 

Nathan    Frederick    1853-54  Win.    H.    Bartholomew    1877-89 

Augustus    H.    Gilbert    1854-55  Edmund    Randall    1889-94 

Solomon  Biery   1855-61  Jonas  F.  Moyer  1894-98 

Arnold   C.    Lewis   March-Nov.    1861   Henry    Davis   1898-1900 
Frank  B.  Martin   1861-62  Charles  Graffin  1900-08 

Chas.   D.   Fuller   1862-65  Samuel    S.     Graffin     1908- 

The  department  at  the  borough  comprises  a  post- 
master and  assistant;  three  clerks,  auxiliary  clerk, 
and  special  delivery  messenger;  four  carriers,  sub- 
carrier,  and  mail  messenger. 


62  EARLY  HISTORY 

Three  daily  deliveries  ai-e  made  excepting  Sundays; 
and  four  eollections  tVoin  .'55  l)oxes  located  in  different 
parts  of  the  boi-oiigh. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  character  and 
extent  of  the  postal  business  at  Catasauqua  : 

Daily   mail   handled: 

Outsoiiig     (pieces)      2800 

Incoming    (pieces)     4600 

Registered  mail   during   1913: — 

Outgoing    (pieces)     2247 

Incoming    (pieces)     2233 

Stamped  paper  sold  during  191:3    $13,340 

Domestic  orders  paid      "  "  21,950 

issued    '■  "  34,048 

International    orders   paid   during    1913     1,318 

issued      '•  "  3,426 

P.  0.  Building — The  post-office  has  been  located  at 
Bridge  and  Railroad  streets  since  1907.  The  superior 
and  attractive  three-story  brick  building  was  erected 
by  capitalists  identified  with  the  National  Bank  of 
Catasau(|ua  at  a  cost  of  $25,000.  The  first  floor  is 
occupied  by  the  Post-Office;  the  second  by  the  Tele- 
phone Exchanges,  and  the  Clear  Springs  Water  Co. ; 
and  the  third  l)y  the  "Charotin  Club,"  a  social  organ- 
ization of  80  members. 

Humane  Fire  Co— David  Thomas,  the  manager  of 
the  Crane  Iron  Co.,  encouraged  the  workmen  to  form 
a  fire  company  for  the  protection  of  the  community  as 
well  as  the  iron  works  against  fire,  and  in  pursuance 
of  his  suggestion,  a  preliminary  meeting  was  held  in 
the  village  on  Nov.  4,  1845,  which  was  attended  by  the 
following  persons: 

Owen    Rice  George  .Tenkins 

John  Kane  Arthur  MoQuade 

Edward    Clark  William    Boyle 

Henry  E.   Kildare  John    Lees 

Isaac  Miller  Noah   Phillips 

Thomas    Dempsey  Cochrane   McLaughlin 

Alexander    Miller  Charles   Dempsey 

Robert  Campbell  William    Neligh 

Richard  Davis  William    Pollock 


LOCAL  IMPROVEMENTS  63 

Jacob  Smith  .lolin    Hunler 

Morgan   Emimuel  J,,iiies    Hunter 

Xeil    McKeever  .Vlex.   Mi  Curdy 

'J'liomas    Miller  James  Denipsey 

William   McClelland  Mark   Dempsey 

Samuel  Thomas  Patrick    Dempsey 

John  Thomas  James   McAllister 

William  J.  Aull  John   Clark 

David    Thomas  William    Davis 
John   Mclntyre 

The  idea  was  approved,  and  the  name  '■Iluiuane 
Fire  Company"'  adopted. 

An  application  was  then  made  to  the  court  of  Le- 
high county  for  a  charter  of  incorporation  and  the 
decree  was  made  March  14,  1846. 

Hand  Fire  Engine — Soon  afterward  the  company 
purchased  a  hand-pumping  engine  from  the  Philadel- 
phia Fire  Co.  for  the  use  of  the  local  fire  company. 
This  engine  Avas  housed  in  a  frame  building  on  2nd 
street  near  Church  (now  the  site  of  the  large  stone 
stable  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.),  until  one  was  put  up 
about  1866  on  Front  street. 

The  engine  consisted  of  a  large  water  tank,  set  on 
four  strong  wheels,  and  over  the  centre  was  placed  a 
tower  which  enclosed  a  force-pump ;  and  this  pump 
was  operated  by  two  projecting  handles  from  the 
front  and  rear  with  extension  arms  that  could  be  laid 
inward  when  not  in  use.  Twenty  men  were  necessary 
to  put  and  keep  these  handles  in  successful  motion, 
ten  on  the  ground,  and  ten  on  the  tank  with  extension 
and  folding  platforms.  A  stream  of  water  could  be 
forced  over  buildings  and  into  the  air  nearly  as 
strong  and  as  high  as  the  steam^fire-engines  of  a  later 
period.  The  water  in  the  tank  was  supplied  by  a 
bucket-brigade  from  a  neighboring  well  and  pump,  or 
by  a  hose  from  the  water  mains. 

At  that  time,  the  water  mains  w^ere  laid  on  Church 
and  AVood  streets,  and  on  Front  street  from  Church 
to  Wood.  These  mains  were  primarily  laid  for  the 
protection   of  the   iron   company's   properties.      The 


64  EARLY  HISTORY 

water  wns  pumped  into  them  from  the  water-house  in 
tlie  furnace  wh(>re  a  powerful  pump  was  operated  by  a 
flow  of  water  from  the  canal.  The  pressure  through 
the  mains  was  great,  with  such  a  force  back  of  it. 

A  hose-carriage  with  sufYicient  hose  was  secured  at 
the  same  time,  the  hose  being  used  to  lead  the  water 
from  the  fire-plug  into  the  engine  tank,  and  from  the 
force  pump  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  fire 
whence  it  was  "played"  upon  the  burning  building. 

Water  Fight — A  favorite  sport  on  Saturday  after- 
noons for  the  members  of  the  fire  company  was  to 
pit  one  party  with  a  section  of  hose  directly  from  a 
fire-plug  against  a  similar  party  with  a  section  from 
the  hand-fire-engine.  Oh,  how  they  did  "play"  water 
into  each  other,  to  the  great  amusement  of  many  on- 
lookers, who  applauded  the  strenuous  performance 
with  uproarious  laughter ;  and  they  would  keep  up 
the  wet  but  friendly  fight  until  either  one,  drenched 
and  nearly  drowned,  cried  "enough." 

Of  course,  the  great  steam-engine  in  the  furnace  was 
too  powerful,  with  inexhaustible  staying  qualities,  for 
the  heart-engines  in  twenty  plucky  firemen.  It  was, 
indeed,  a  dramatic  performance,  and  the  skilful  en- 
gineer in  the  furnace  displayed  much  judgment  in 
manipulating  the  throttle  at  his  end  of  the  line  to 
keep  the  human  energy  of  the  respective  contestants 
swaying  to  and  fro  until  either  party  became  ex- 
hausted. 

Steam  Fire-engine — This  hand-engine  continued  in 
use  until  1865  ;  then  a  large  fire  occurred  (the  destruc- 
tion of  the  machine-shop  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.)  which 
demonstrated  its  inefficiency.  The  Borough  substi- 
tuted an  improved  steam  fire-engine  which  was  pur- 
chased from  the  Phoenix  Fire  Co.  of  Philadelphia, 
and  this  was  used  for  30  years ;  then  it  too  had  to  make 
way  for  a  stronger  engine  because  it  had  failed  to 
cope  with  the  great  and  costly  fire  at  the  Unicorn  Silk 
Mill,  beyond  the  northern  end  of  the  borough. 


OLDEST  BUILDINGS  65 

The  old  hand-engine  was  stripped  of  its  brass 
mountings  and  taken  to  the  shadow  of  an  old  tree  near 
the  C.  &  F.  R.  R.  round-house,  and  there  the  two 
passed  away  together  in  the  natural  process  of  decay. 
It  would  seem  to  me  that  the  pride  of  this  Fire 
Company  should  have  been  stirred  up  to  such  a  pitch 
as  to  have  kept  it  as  a  great  relic  of  the  sport,  if  not 
of  the  protection,  which  it  had  afforded  them  for 
twenty  years,  during  the  early  development  of  the 
town,  and  in  our  "celebration"  it  would  have  been 
an  honored  curiosity. 

Before  the  erection  of  the  Town-Hall  in  1868,  the 
apparatus  was  housed  in  a  frame  building  specially 
put  up  by  the  borough  for  the  purpose,  on  Front 
street,  south  of  Church,  which  is  now  occupied  as  a 
barber-shop ;  since  1868,  it  has  been  kept  in  the  Town- 
Hall. 

OLDEST  BUILDINGS— There  are  eight  old  build- 
ings in  the  borough  which  are  still  standing  and 
worthy  of  special  mention. 

Deily  Stone  Barn,  near  Catasauqua  creek,  east  of 
the  new  concrete  county  bridge,  supposed  to  have  been 
erected  about  1760;  now  owned  by  the  F.  J.  Deily 
estate. 

George  Taylor  Residence,  on  the  Deily  Hill,  south 
of  Catasauqua  creek,  two-story  stone  Colonial  dwell- 
ing, plastered,  supposed  to  have  been  erected  in  1768, 
and  now  o^vaied  by  the  Frank  J.  Deily  estate.  There 
were  three  cast-iron  plates  at  the  back  of  open  fire- 
places here  which  were  cast  at  the  Durham  Furnace 
in  Bucks  county,  with  G  T  1768  on  them.  The  large 
plate  in  the  kitchen  was  removed  and  presented  by  the 
Deily  Estate  to  the  Historical  Society  of  Lehigh  Coun- 
ty in  1910.  Taylor  was  employed  as  a  clerk  at  this 
furnace  and  after  its  proprietor  died  he  married  the 
widow,  and  carried  on  the  furnace  before  and  during 
the  Revolution.     While  there  he  became  a  member  of 


G6  EARLY  HISTORY 

Congi-ess  and  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. In  1918,  when  the  School  Directors  of  the 
iiorough  erected  a  new  school  building  in  the  3rd 
Ward  for  the  accoininodation  of  the  increasing  number 
of  children,  tliey  named  the  building  after  him. 

BiERY  Farm-house  at  2nd  and  Race  streets,  two- 
story  stone,  plastered  and  marked  in  imitation  of 
brick ;  supposed  to  have  been  erected  about  1800 ;  now 
owned  by  August  Ilohl. 

BiERY  Hotel,  on  Race  street,  at  rear  of  American 
Hotel;  fine  two-story  cut  stone,  used  for  many  years 
as  a  tavern ;  erected  in  1826 ;  now  owned  by  George 
B.  F.  Deily. 

BiERY  Home  at  Race  and  Canal  streets,  opposite 
the  large  grist  mill  of  Mauser  &  Cressman ;  fine  two- 
story  cut  stone,  erected  in  1830 ;  now  owned  by  Frank 
B.  Mauser  and  occupied  by  him  as  a  residence. 

BiERY  Stone-house,  on  Race  street  at  the  canal; 
fine  two-story  cut  stone,  used  for  many  years  as  a 
store  and  residence  by  James  Lackey,  Joseph  Lau- 
bach  and  George  Deily  to  accommodate  the  boatmen ; 
erected  in  1835 ;  now  owned  by  George  B.  F.  Deily 
and  occupied  by  him  as  a  residence. 

Thomas  Home — The  first  home  of  David  Thomas 
was  on  Front  street,  opposite  the  Crane  Iron  "Works ; 
two-story  frame  building  erected  for  Thomas  during 
the  Summer  and  Fall  of  1839  by  the  company  Avhile 
he  and  his  family  sojourned  at  Allentown  till  it  was 
finished.  A  stone  ice-house  was  erected  for  his  use  at 
the  same  time  on  the  lot  along  the  street,  now  used  as 
a  small  store  :  owned  by  the  company.  There  were  two 
prominent  and  useful  institutions  in  connection  with 
this  home  which  are  also  worthy  of  special  mention. 

A  sun-dial  was  established  in  1840  by  the  Crane 
Iron  Co.  along  Front  street  near  the  gate  leading  to 
this  home  which  was  highly  appreciated  in  the  village 
for  30  years.     Whenever  the  sun  shone,  it  indicated 


OLDEST  BUILDINGS  67 

the  correct  time  to  all  the  inhabitants  and  visitors  who 
passed  the  place.  Watches  and  clocks  were  expensive 
then  and  not  in  general  nse. 

A  well  was  sunk  by  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  on  this 
premises  at  the  same  time  that  the  dwelling  house 
Mas  erected  for  Mr.  Thomas  and  a  pump-stock  was 
placed  there  Avith  a  long  iron  handle  to  raise  the 
water,  and  a  long-handled  iron  cup  attached  to  a 
chain  from  which  to  drink  it.  This  Avas  also  appre- 
ciated, for  the  (juality  of  the  water  was  superior  and 
many  persons  refreshed  themselves  there,  more  es- 
pecially the  working  people  at  the  furnace ;  indeed, 
all  the  families  in  that  vicinity  got  their  drinking 
water  at  this  pump.  It  was  continued  in  active 
use  until  the  town  came  to  be  generally  supplied  from 
the  Avater-works. 

Kurtz  Farm-house,  in  the  3rd  Ward  on  the  Kurtz 
Lane  leading  from  the  HowertoAvn  Road ;  tAvo-story 
stone,  erected  about  1800 ;  noAV  OAvned  by  John 
Yeager. 

Frederick  Hobi  e — The  old  tAvo-story  stone  house  on 
the  public  road  on  the  Avest  side  of  the  Lehigh  river 
near  the  Biery  Bridge  Avas  razed  in  1892  to  utilize  the 
stone  for  filling  in  the  approaches  to  the  iron  county- 
l)ridge  erected  on  the  site  of  the  Biery  Bridge.  It 
Avas  one  of  the  early  houses  in  the  Lehigh  Valley,  hav- 
ing been  built  in  1757.  It  Avas  familiarly  knoAvn  as 
the  "Frederick  Mansion,"  named  after  George  Fred- 
erick, Avho  Avas  the  owner  of  the  farm  on  Avhich  it 
stood  to  the  time  of  the  construction  of  the  Lehigh 
Valley  R.  R.  in  1855,  when  he  sold  it  to  Asa  Packer. 
One  of  the  early  owners  was  Jacob  Yundt,  AA^ho  settled 
along  the  Lehigh  river  after  taking  up  278  acres  in 
tAvo  Avarrants  in  1750,  Avhich  extended  from  the  Biery 
Bridge  doAvn  to  Stephen  Snyder's  farm;  and  he 
erected  the  stone  house  in  1757.  It  Avas  knoAvn  for 
years  as  "The  Fort,"  because  it  is  supposed  to  have 


68  EARLY  HISTORY 

been  used  as  a  i)laee  of  refuge  during  the  Indian 
ineui'sions. 

On  account  of  their  i)rominence  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  town,  I  should  mention  also  the  Biery 
Grist-mill,  the  Breisch  Home,  and  the  Peter  Home. 

Biery  Grist-mill — Opposite  the  Biery  Tavern  were 
the  Biery  grist-mill,  together  with  a  saw-mill  and 
fulling-mill,  and  the  fine  two-story  stone  house  (now 
the  residence  of  Frank  B.  Mauser).  The  mill-dam 
(abandoned)  lay  several  hundred  feet  to  the  north- 
east, and  the  mill-race  extended  under  what  is  now 
the  northerly  end  of  the  Dery  silk-mill,  and  the  yard 
of  the  Mauser  residence.  At  the  fulling-mill,  the  bags 
of  carded  wool  were  fastened  together  with  strong  pins 
cut  from  the  hawthorn  hedges  which  grew  along  the 
road-sides  in  the  township. 

The  farm-house  along  Race  street,  at  2nd,  was  the 
residence  of  Jonas  Biery,  a  son  of  Frederick,  who 
conducted  the  farm.  There  was  a  small  rough-coated 
house  where  the  Mauser  barn  is  now  located. 

Breisch  Home — The  Breisch  home  was  on  a  farm  of 
about  7  acres.  It  occupied  the  site  of  Dr.  Daniel 
Yoder's  residence,  at  3rd  and  Bridge  streets. 

Peter  Home — The  Peter  farm  lay  along  the  river. 
It  extended  northward  from  Church  street  to  a  point 
100  feet  beyond  Spring  street,  and  eastward  to  the 
HowertoAvn  Road,  excepting  the  Breisch  farm,  which 
was  "sandwiched  in  between."  The  farm  house  and 
barn  were  situated  opposite  the  Schneller  Block ;  the 
former  was  built  of  stone  and  stood  near  the  canal. 

A  primeval  forest  extended  along  Front  street  from 
Wood  street  to  Church  and  eastward  to  the  Hower- 
town  Road. 

FIRST  OCCUPATIONS— I  mention  the  following 
names  of  persons  who  were  the  first  here  to  pursue 
their  several  avocations  in  professional,  industrial  and 
commercial  life : — 


FIRST  OCCUPATIONS  69 

Doctors — The  first  doctor  was  William  J.  Romig 
of  Allentowii,  who  resided  in  the  lower  part  of  Front 
street  and  practiced  his  profession  as  a  homoeopathic 
physician  for  eight  or  ten  years  when  he  returned  to 
Allentown.  He  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  F.  B.  Martin 
who,  for  many  years,  was  the  only  physician  here,  and 
in  1858  foi'med  a  partnership  with  Dr.  Daniel  Yoder. 
Martin  died  in  1868,  and  Yoder  continued  to  practice 
until  a  few  years  ago  when  lie  retired.  Dr.  Hornbeck 
was  a  nephew  of  Dr.  Martin  who  came  here  in  1866 
and  was  associated  with  his  uncle  until  the  latter 's 
death.  He  also  continued  practice  until  his  death  a 
few  years  ago. 

Dentists — There  were  no  dentists  here  in  1839. 
Dr.  J.  P.  Barnes,  late  of  AllentoAvn,  was  the  first.  He 
came  over  from  Bath  where  he  Avas  a  student  with 
Dr.  Scholl.  He  would  visit  the  village  on  Church  and 
AVood  streets  with  his  instruments  in  a  satchel,  and  a 
patient  requiring  his  services  would  attend  to  them. 
At  tbat  time  it  was  the  custom  to  ^le  or  cut  away  the 
tooth  and  insert  an  artificial  tooth  on  a  wooden  pivot 
in  the  centre  of  the  roots,  the  tooth  having  been  cut 
away  even  with  the  gum.  Imagine  the  pain,  for  no 
opiates  were  used. 

Prior  to  the  settlement  of  the  village,  Thomas  Butz, 
who  oAvned  the  farm  now  the  site  of  the  Thomas  Iron 
Co.,  was  the  only  extractor  of  teeth  apart  from  the 
doctors.  People  would  come  for  miles  around  and 
have  him  extract  their  teeth  which  pained  them.  If 
he  were  in  the  field  plowing,  tliey  would  take  along 
from  the  farm  house  the  instrument,  a  long  hook; 
then  he  would  sit  them  on  a  stump  in  the  field,  insert 
the  hook  back  of  the  tooth  (after  having  wrapped  the 
handle  with  his  handkerchief),  and  give  a  tremendous 
pull,  when  presto,  out  would  come  the  troublesome 
tooth. 

Chemist — The  first  chemist  was  Alonzo  W.  Kinsey, 
an    p]nglishman,    employed    b\-    the    Crane    Iron    Co. 


70  EARLY  HISTORY 

He  occasionally  gave  free  lectures  and  showed  great 
ability  in  cheuiical  experiments.  His  most  astonish- 
ing feat  was,  after  having  washed  his  hands  with 
some  li(iiiid,  he  would  go  to  the  foundry  and  dip  his 
hands  in  a  ladle  of  molten  iron,  and  splash  it  around 
on  the  floor,  then  show  his  hands  uninjured.  He  af- 
terwards removed  to  the  Carnegie  Works  at  the  re- 
quest of  Capt.  Bill  Jones;  there  he  married  a  second 
time,  the  mother  of  the  wife  of  Charles  Schwab,  now 
of  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Co.  He  died  a  few  years  ago  at 
an  advanced  age. 

Machinist — The  first  machinist  was  George  Jen- 
kins who  was  foreman  of  the  small  machine  shop  at- 
tached to  the  Crane  Iron  Works.  He  afterwards  be- 
came superintendent  of  the  Boonton  Iron  Works  at 
Boonton.  N.  J.,  whei'e  some  of  his  descendants  are  still 
living. 

Druggist — Uriah  Brunner  was  the  first  druggist 
and  also  published  the  first  newspaper,  ''The  Rising 
Star  of  C<itasauqi(a."  He  removed  to  West  Point, 
Nebraska,  where  he  became  a  State  Senator  of  that 
State. 

Hotels — Besides  the  Biery  Hotel  (now  the  Amer- 
ican Hotel),  there  was  Nathan  Fegley's  "Temper- 
ance Hotel"  at  the  corner  of  Church  and  Front 
streets,  now  known  as  Fullers  block.  In  connection 
Mr.  Fegley  also  carried  on  a  general  store,  lumber  and 
coal  business. 

Daguerreotypes — -The  first  artist  for  taking  pic- 
tures Avas  John  Swartz,  a  brother  of  B.  Frank  Swartz, 
deceased.  Pictures  then  were  only  taken  on  glass, 
known  as  daguerreotvpes.  He  died  at  an  earlv  age 
in  1852. 

Stoves  and  Tinware — This  business  was  carried  on 
by  the  late  Charles  W.  Schneller,  at  Second  and  Mul- 
berry streets ;  afterwards  he  removed  to  Front  street, 
where  his  son  Charles  carries  on  the  same  business. 


FIRST  OCCUPATIONS  71 

Tailors — Tlie  first  tailor  was  Joseph  Youndt.  He 
died  of  small-pox  over  fifty  years  ago. 

Barbers — The  first  barber  was  Samuel  Romich,  who 
died  prior  to  1857,  when  James  W.  B\dler  (1st) 
brought  a  colored  barber  here,  named  William  E. 
Welsh,  who  carried  on  a  shop  many  years.  A  son 
lives  at  Coplay  who  has  a  barber-shop  there. 

Shoemaker — The  first  shoemaker  was  Joseph 
Troxell,  who  had  a  small  store  on  the  site  of  the 
Kemp  store.  Ilis  son,  Alfred  M.  Troxell,  carries  on 
the  same  business  at  Front  and  Chapel  streets. 

Stone  Mason — The  first  stone  mason  was  Charles 
Breiseh  who  helped  to  erect  the  first  furnace.  One  son 
and  a  number  of  grand-sons  still  live  here. 

Cabinet-maker — Owen  Frederick  was  the  first  un- 
dertaker for  many  years.  He  carried  on  the  business 
at  the  same  place  occupied  by  Frederick  &  Sherer. 
He  was  born  below  Biery's  Bridge  in  the  old  stone 
house  erected  in  1757,  which  was  razed  some  twenty 
years  ago.  It  was  situated  just  below  Johnston's 
foundry. 

Lumber-yard — The  first  lumber-yard  \vas  kept  by 
Nathan  Fegley,  who  came  from  Mauch  Chunk.  The 
front  of  the  yard  is  the  site  of  the  Town  Hall,  ex- 
tending back  to  ]\Iiddle  alley,  thence  down  to  Front 
street,  on  the  site  of  the  stores  of  Charles  Kemp  and 
Lawall  Bros.  On  this  account  Railroad  alley  is  not 
in  a  straight  line,  but  deflected  westwardly. 

Brick- YARD — The  first  brick-yard,  Avhere  the  bricks 
for  the  early  brick  liuildings  were  numufactured,  Avas 
on  Howertown  Road,  at  the  corner  of  AVood  street. 
David  A.  Tombler  was  the  proprietor.  He  afterwards 
moved  his  yards  to  East  Catasauqua  and  a  few  years 
ago  they  were  abandoned. 

Another  l)rick-yard  was  on  the  Howertown  Road 
close  to  Hunter's  farm,  where  the  Neighly  Bros,  car- 


72  EARLY  HISTORY 

ried  on  the  l)usiiu'ss  for  many  years,  but  upon  their 
removal  west,  it  was  abandoned. 

Ice-cream — Clharles  Andreas  carried  on  the  first 
confectionery  and  ice-cream  saloon  on  Front  street, 
on  the  site  of  Schneller's  block.  He  was  for  many 
years  in  charge  of  the  large  ])lowing  engines  at  the 
Crane  Iron  Works. 

Foundry — John  Fritz  and  his  l)rother  came  here 
prior  to  1852,  and  cari'ied  on  the  Union  Foundry  on 
the  corner  of  Front  and  Pine  streets.  His  brother-in- 
law,  Isaac  Chandler,  had  a  blacksmith-shop  on  the 
site  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.'s  locomotive-house  at 
Bridge  and  Front  streets.  After  a  few  years,  they  all 
left  for  Johnstown,  Cambria  county.  Pa. 

FIRST  ROCKER— I  remember  the  first  rocking- 
chair  brought  to  Biery 's-Port.  It  was  purchased  at 
Bethlehem  and  it  was  so  important  a  purchase  that 
two  men  brought  it  up  on  a  boat.  When  it  arrived  at 
the  end  of  the  week,  the  greater  part  of  the  villagers 
went  to  see  it  as  a  great  curiosity.    This  was  in  1847. 

FIRST  CARRIAGE— The  first  carriage  at  Biery 's- 
Port  was  brought  by  John  Boyer,  father  of  Eugene 
J.  Boyer,  when  he  moved  here  from  Bath  about  1849. 
This  was  also  regarded  as  a  curiosity. 

FIRST  SULPHUR  MATCH— It  is  said  that  the 
first  match  was  made  at  Paris  in  1805 ;  and  the  first 
pocket  match  by  John  Walker,  an  English  druggist, 
who  sold  84  of  them  for  a  shilling. 

Frederick  Eberhart,  who  came  to  Catasauqua  from 
New  Jersey,  made  the  first  sulphur  matches  by  taking 
a  block  of  pine  wood  and  so  splitting  it  in  small  sticks 
with  a  knife  as  to  leave  the  block  at  the  bottom  intact, 
and  this  was  dipped  in  a  solution  of  sulphur.  He  sold 
these  blocks  in  the  winter  season  when  he  had  no  other 
work.    In  using  a  match  one  was  pulled  ofif  at  a  time. 

CHURCHES — I  mention  in  this  compilation  the 
two  Presbyterian  churches  because  they  are  so  promi- 


CHURCHES  73 

nently  identified  with  the  early  history  of  Catasauqiia. 

First  Presbyterian  Church — The  First  Presby- 
terian Church  at  Catasau(iua  was  established  when 
the  Crane  Iron  Co.  started  its  great  work  here  in 
1839,  and  David  Thomas  is  regarded  as  its  founder. 
The  first  building  of  the  congregation  was  erected  in  a 
woods  on  the  south  end  of  a  small  triangular  piece  of 
ground  at  the  extreme  limits  of  the  land  purchased  by 
the  Crane  Iron  Co.,  which  was  donated  by  the  com- 
pany for  religious  purposes.  It  adjoined  the  public 
road  that  led  from  Allen  township  on  the  north  to 
the  old  town  of  Bethlehem  on  the  south-east.  The 
base  or  front  of  this  land  was  164  feet  in  length,  and 
the  other  two  sides  each  158  feet. 

The  building  was  constructed  of  boards  set  upright, 
and  covered  by  a  shingle  roof:  and  once  a  year  it  was 
white-washed,  inside  as  well  as  outside,  for  which 
purpose  a  hogshead  of  lime  was  always  on  hand  in  a 
shed  at  the  rear  of  the  building.  Three  long  iron 
rods  were  placed  across  the  auditorium  near  the  ceil- 
ing at  equal  distances,  and  these  were  fastened  on  the 
outside  by  nuts  so  as  to  keep  the  building  firmly  to- 
gether. Camphene  was  used  in  lamps  for  lighting  the 
room.  The  lamps  were  suspended  from  the  ceiling 
and  these  could  be  lowered  or  elevated  at  will  by  sim 
ply  pressing  against  a  slender  rod  which  extended 
through  a  little  hole  in  the  ceiling;  and  that  slender 
rod  disappearing  through  that  little  hole  excited  the 
curiosity  of  incjuiriug  children. 

By  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Thomas  (who  was  the 
manager  of  the  company)  this  small  piece  of  ground 
at  the  rear  of  the  old  reservoir  on  Church  street  was 
enlarged  to  a  rectangular  figure  200  feet  in  width  and 
350  feet  in  depth. 

The  history  of  this  congregation  was  concisely  given 
in  an  address  by  Samuel  Thomas,  son  of  the  founder, 
upon  the  occasion  of  celebrating  on  Sept.  23,  1904,  the 
' '  Semi-Centennial  Jubilee ' '  of  laying  the  corner-stone 


74  EARLY  HISTORY 

of  the  pi-csciil  cliurcli  on  the  iiorth-cast  corner  of  2nd 
and  Pine  si  reels,  and  ils  eoinpleteness  being  recognized, 
il  has  been  suhslilnted  here  in  place  of  a  previously 
published  narrative.  It  was  entitled  by  him,  "Early 
Reminiscences  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church": — 

".lust  fifty  years  ago,  in  the  peace  and  calm  of  the  early  twilight  of 
a  beautiful  September  evening,  a  group  of  Christian  worshippers  as- 
sembled to  witness  the  ceremony  of  laying  the  corner  stone  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  whose  shadow  we  are  now  standinc;,  fir.yt  in 
name  only,  but  not  in  point  of  erection. 

The  first  church  was  a  little  frame  builling  25  by  35  feet,  built 
by  David  Minnich,  in  the  woods  between  the  reservoir  and  what  is  now 
Mrs.  John  Williams'  garden,  at  the  upper  end  of  Church  street,  on 
land  donated  by  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  The  time  was  the  last  Sunday  of 
December,  1839.  cold  and  stormy,  when  the  ground  was  covered  with 
snow,  and  brother  .John  and  I  had  nailed  planks  together  to  use  as 
a  plough  to  open  paths  through  the  heavy  fall  of  snow.  The  storm  was 
so  severe  that  after  the  corner  stone  had  been  laid  by  Rev.  I^andis, 
pastor  of  the  Allentown  Presbyterian  Cliurch  (the  first  English  church 
in  Lehigh  county),  the  little  congregation  were  obliged  to  continue 
the  services  in  the  home  of  Father  Thomas,  which  is  still  standing  op- 
posite the  Crane  Iron  Works. 

Of  tliat  little  band  of  Presbyterian  pioneers,  I  can  find  only  three 
survivors  besides  myself:  Mrs.  Bender  (nee  Peter),  and  Mrs.  Owen 
Swartz,  her  sister,  and  Mrs.  Rehrig  (nee  Lackey),  all  the  others 
having  passed  on  to  the  beyond  towards   which   we   also   are  hastening. 

As  near  as  my  memory  serves  me,  those  present  on  this  interesting; 
occasion  were  the  following: — 'Father'  and  'Mother'  Thomas  with  their 
five  children  (Jane,  Gwenny,  Samuel,  .John  and  David),  Mrs.  James 
Lackey  and  daughter  Maggie,  .John  Samuels  and  daughter  Rachel, 
Mrs.  John  Leibert,  John  Peter  and  family,  Aaron  Bast,  Charles 
Breisch,  Lawrence  Landis,  Mrs.  Jonathan  Landis  and  Andrew  Archer. 
There  were  doiibtless  others,  but  these  stand  out  clearest  against  the 
past. 

The  little  building  has  been  demolished  and  the  venerable  black  oak 
tree  has  been  removed,  in  whose  forked  branches  I,  as  a  boy,  hung 
the  bell  which  called  the  faithful  to  prayers.  This  bell  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.,  by  whom  it  was  used  once  a  month  on 
pay-days  to  call  the  men  together.  It  still  hangs  on  a  branch  of  the 
tree,  close  to  the  office,  where  the  curious  may  each  find  it. 
The  tree  and  bell  were  natural  means  to  a  spiritual  end  and  though 
they  have  passed  out  of  use,  the  spirit  abides  for  this  church  whose 
semi-centennial  we  celebrate  to-day,  and  its  great  development  into 
other  churches,  such  as  the  Bridge  Street  Church,  the  church  at  Hoken- 
dauqua,  the  Bethel- Welsh  Congregational  Church  (known  as  "Mother 
Thomas's  Church),   the  churches   at   Lockridge,   Ferndale   and  Richarrl's 


CHURCHES  75 

Mine  in  New  .Trrsey,  and  the  Presljyterian  Clnirch  at  Thomas  in  fai'  off 
Alalinnia. 

All  tliese  ctiurchcs  are  living  branches  of  the  tree  which  was  planted 
in  faith  and  hope  fifty  years  ago  on  tliat  inclement  Winter  Sunday 
by  a  band  of  earnest  Presbyterian  men  and  women.  The  women  are 
worthy  of  special  mention  for  they  too  carried  their  share  of  the  burden 
cheerfully  and  nobly.  Well  do  I  remember  my  sister  Gwenny,  Rachel 
Samuel,  Maggie  Lackey  and  Susanna  Peter,  brave  and  helpful  young 
girls,  who  carried  water  in  pails  all  the  way  from  the  canal  to  scrub 
and  clean  the  church,  and  as  the  building  was  used  for  a  day-school 
during  the  week,  every  Saturday  morning  it  required  their  earnest 
attention. 

In  a  recent  interview  with  Mrs.  Owen  Swartz  and  Mrs.  Rehvig, 
whose  personal  recollections  of  the  early  times  in  the  history  of  this 
church  are  very  clear,  I  was  reminded  that  church  services  were  held 
in  my  father's  house  until  the  completion  of  the  building  on  March  22, 
1840. 

This  little  white-washed  chnrcli  was  used  for  worshij)  until  the 
present  building  was  ready  to  be  occupied  in  1856.  Two  year.s  after 
the  laying  of  the  corner  stone,  the  church  was  dedicated,  free  of  debts. 
My  thoughts  dwell  with  especial  pleasure  upon  those  far-oflf  days,  and 
the  building  of  those  early  Walls  of  Zion  in  our  adopted  home. 

As  I  review  those  early  years,  I  see  the  earnest  figures  of  my  father 
and  mother,  who  were  strangers  in  a  strange  land,  zealous  from  the 
beginning  to  see  a  house  of  worship  planted  here.  When  the  church 
was  organized,  it  numbered  only  three,  father,  mother  and  sister  Jane; 
and  father  was  then  ordained  as  first  elder. 

About  two  years  later,  David  Williams,  Sr.,  located  with  his 
family  at  Catasauqua  and  he  became  a  member  of  this  church ;  and 
soon  afterwards  he  was  inducted  into  the  eldership.  He  was  a  most 
e.xcellent  man.  and  though  in  poor  health  he  was  strenuous  in  all  good 
works.  It  was  he  who  took  up  the  collection  and  acted  as  treasurer  of 
the  church.  He  died  August  14,  1845,  and  his  remains  were  laid 
to  rest  in  the  church  yard  after  services  in  the  little  white  church  which 
he  had   served  so  well. 

As  the  population  increased  the  church  in  the  woods  became  too 
small.  A  special  meeting  of  the  congregation  was  therefore  held  to 
discuss  ways  and  means  for  securing  a  new  building.  A  committee 
was  appointed  consisting  of  the  pastor,  Rev.  Cornelius  Earle,  David 
Thomas,   Morgan   Emanuel,   William   McClelland  and  Joshua   Hunt. 

By  an  arrangement  with  David  Thomas  (who  had  donated  some 
adjoining  land  to  enlarge  the  church  property  on  Church  street),  an 
exchange  was  made  of  that  land  whicu  secured  to  the  congregation  the 
site  of  180  by  180  feet  at  the  corner  of  Second  and  Pine  streets,  upon 
which  today  stands  the  present  church,  the  parsonage  and  the  chapel. 
Plans  having  been  made  and  adopted,  sufficient  funds  were  raised  to 
warrant  the  new  enterprise. 


76  EARLY  HISTORY 

'J  he  corner  stone  of  tlie  old  church  was  brought  here  and  deposited 
just  previous  to  the  ceremony  of  hiying  the  new  corner  stone.  It  is 
a  gray  sand  stone  from  near  Kreidersville.  It  was  fashioned  by  Charles 
Hreisch  and  bears  the  date  of  1839,  which  can  be  seen  on  excrimination. 
In  the  new  stone  a  copper  box  was  laid  which,  according  to  custom, 
contained  a  Rible,  some  coins,  local  papers,  and  whatever  the  copper 
box  of  the  old  corner  stone  had  contained.  An  address  was  delivered 
by  Rev.  Richard  Walker  of  AUentown,  an;l  Rev.  Leslie  Irwin  of  Batft 
assisted    in   the   services. 

On    Sunday,    the    11th    day    of    May,    1856,    the    church    was    solemnly 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  God.      Rev.   Geo.   Duffield,   D.   D.,   preached 
the  dedicatory  sermon.   Rev.   C.   Earle  and  Rev.   R.   Walker  taking  part 
in  the  services.     Rev.  Jacob  Becker  preached  German  in   the  afternoon. 
Only    a    few    remain    who    were    then    from    20    to    30    years    of    age : 
Mrs.    Thomas    Bear  William  Kildare 

Charles    Gratfin  Chas.  W.   Schneller 

Daniel  Milson  Mrs.   Quigg 

James  Nevins 

and    those    who    were    from    ten    to    twenty    years    still    among    us    are: 

Mrs.  John  Thomas  Owen  F.  Leibert 

James  Thomas  Joseph  McFetridge 

Mrs.   James   Thomas  John   McFetridge 

Mrs.    Emma    C.    Williams  Mrs.  John  Knauss 

Rebecca    Siegley  Mrs.   James  Torrence 

Mrs.    Kate   Stewart  Martha  Wilson 

"\Yilliam   H.   Glace  Thomas  Jones 

Joseph   Matchette  Mrs.   Wm.   T.   Snyder 

Mrs.  Herbert  James  Mrs.  Edwin  Mickley 

Samuel  Davis  Mrs.  James  W.   Fuller 

Daniel  Davis  Archibald  Courtney 
David  Davis 

The  edifice  is  built  of  brick,  semi-Gothic  in  style. 
The  main  building  is  40  by  63  feet,  exclusive  of  tower 
and  pulpit  recess ;  and  it  has  a  transept  on  the  south 
side  20  by  80  feet,  which  forms  part  of  the  audience 
room,  and  also  an  organ  transept  on  the  north  side, 
10  by  20  feet.  The  organ  was  the  gift  of  David 
Thomas.  The  spire  is  150  feet  high,  a  fine-toned  bell 
being  in  the  tower.  The  congregation  had  been  reg- 
ularly incorporated  in  1853. 

As  commemorative  of  the  re-union  of  the  Old  School 
and  New  School  Assemblies  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  a  memorial  chapel  was  built  on  Pine  street  at 


CHURCHES  77 

the  rear  of  the  edifice  in  1871,  the  corner-stone  having 
been  laid  May  13th,  and  the  dedication  having  taken 
place  on  December  10th.  This  building  is  also  of 
brick,  semi-Gothic  in  style,  35  by  82  feet.  It  contains 
rooms  for  all  church  purposes ;  and  it  is  used  for  mid- 
week services  and  by  the  Sabbath-school. 

Forty  feet  north  of  the  church,  front  on  2nd  street, 
there  is  an  attractive  and  conveniently  planned 
manse,  built  of  brick,  in  style  corresponding  with  the 
church. 

Rev.  Cornelius  Earle  served  as  the  pastor  in  a  most 
efficient  manner  from  Oct.  14,  1852  to  1898,  when  he 
resigned,  after  a  continuous  and  most  successful  ser- 
vice covering  a  period  of  46  years. 

During  the  year  1899  the  regular  services  were  con- 
ducted by  other  licensed  Presbyterian  ministers. 

Rev.  Charles  H.  Miller  was  elected  as  the  successor 
of  Rev.  Earle,  and  he  has  served  the  congregation  in 
a  most  efficient  manner  since  February  1900. 

A  sunday-school  has  been  conducted  in  connection 
with  the  church  from  the  beginning,  and  the  super- 
intendents have  been  prominently  identified  with  the 
church  as  elders : — 

David    Thomas,     1839     to    1847;     elder    from     1839  to  1882. 

Joshua    Hunt,       1847    to     1882;     elder    from     1847  to  1886. 

John    Williams,     1882    to     1892;     elder    from     1874  to  1892. 

Joseph    Matchette,    1892    to    1914;    elder    from    1892  to  1914. 

The  membership  of  the  church  in  December,  1913, 
was  234 ;  of  the  sunday-school,  300. 

Bridge  Street  Church — Rev.  Leslie  Irwin  at  the 
time  of  l)uilding  the  little  frame  church  was  the  pastor 
of  the  "Irish  Settlement."  lie  was  a  graduate  of  the 
Royal-Belfast  College,  and  having  been  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Synod  of  Ulster,  he  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica in  1834.  He  was  received  as  a  licentiate  by  the 
Presbyterians  of  Philadelphia  on  Dec.  22,  1835,,  and 
there  ordained  as  an  evangelist,  with  orders  to  locate 
in  the  ' '  Irish  Settlement. ' '    Upon  his  arrival  he  found 


78  EARLY  HISTORY 

two  churches,  one  at  Weaversville  and  tlie  other  near 
J^atli.  both  of  which  are  still  standing. 

Tlie  erection  of  a  clmi-ch  of  tlie  same  faith  within 
the  boundaries  of  his  parisli  witliout  authority  of  the 
Presbytery,  and  the  removal  of  influential  familes  like 
the  Nagles,  Depews,  Loders,  Lyles  and  Hudders,  to  the 
new  village,  caused  him  to  be  on  the  alert.  He  there- 
fore visited  the  people  who  had  come  from  his  own 
country  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  finding  himself 
in  touch  with  them,  he  recjuested  permission  to  preach 
to  them  in  this  new  church,  which  was  given. 

At  great  personal  inconvenience  and  in  spite  of  in- 
clement weather,  he  visited  the  families  from  house  to 
house,  and  once  every  Sabbath  preached  the  gospel  to 
them.  Finally,  in  1850,  in  compliance  with  their  re- 
quest, set  out  in  a  petition,  the  Presbytery  of  Newton 
organized  another  congregation  with  32  members  and 
ordained  James  McClelland  as  its  tirst  ruling  elder. 
Rev.  Irwin  continued  his  ministrations  in  a  most 
faithful  manner  for  fifteen  years  until  1865,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  Rev.  James  Lew^ars.  In  1852  he  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  the  erection  of  a  church  on  Bridge 
street,  a  short  distance  west  of  the  Howertown  Road, 
on  the  additional  lot  of  ground,  containing  2  acres 
76  ps.  which  had  been  granted  and  conveyed  in  1849 
by  John  Peter  to  David  Thomas,  Robert  Mclntyre, 
Owen  Rice,  Samuel  Thomas,  William  Taylor,  David 
Williams  and  John  Peter,  as  trustees  of  the  Presby- 
terian congregation.  Before  this  time  a  memorial  to 
the  Presbytery  was  signed  by  170  individuals,  as 
residents  of  Craneville,  and  a  report  was  forwarded  in 
1850,  stating  that  there  were  62  members  in  com- 
nninion  with  the  Church. 

After  the  purchase  of  this  small  additional  tract  of 
land,  the  "old  school  members"  desired  to  withdraw 
from  the  "Union  Church,"  and  effect  a  division  of 
the  assets,  having,  in  a  petition  to  the  Crane  Iron  Co., 
styled   themselves   as   the   "  Presbvterian   Church   of 


CHURCHES  79 

Craneville, "  though  neither  of  the  two  congregations 
had  as  yet  been  incorporated.  But  it  would  seem  that 
the  Presbytery  at  Newton  recognized  Rev.  Irwin's 
congregation  as  the  "okl  school."  The  lot,  known 
as  the  "Academy  Lot,"  was  eventually  sold,  the  debt 
on  it  satisfied,  and  the  surplus  eciually  divided  be- 
tween the  two  congregations  respectively  known  as 
the  "Old  School"  and  "New  School."  These  desig- 
nations subsequently  became  offensive  to  the  respec- 
tive members,  and  a  change  was  accordingly  made  so 
that  the  congregation  which  erected  their  new  church 
in  1852  on  Bridge  street  was  named  "The  First  Old 
School  Presbyterian  Church,"  and  that  which  erected 
theirs  in  1854  at  Pine  and  Second  streets  was  named 
"The  First  Presbyterian  Church."  The  former  was 
incorporated  in  1851,  and  theapplicationjwas  signed  by 

Robert  Mclntyre  William  Miller 

.John  Mclntyre  William   Baird 

.Tolin  Hudders  Thomas  Knox 

John   G.   Loder  James    Pollock 

William    Taylor  F.   W.   Quigg 

The  edifice  erected  in  1852  on  Bridge  street  was  a 
plain,  frame,  one-story  l)uikling  and  this  was  used 
until  18G6,  when  the  present  brick  church  was  erected 
in  its  place.  A  two-story  brick  parsonage  was  erected 
shortly  after  1852  on  the  lot,  east  of  the  church,  for 
the  use  of  the  pastor. 

From  that  time,  the  so-called  "old-school"  have 
worshipped  in  the  building  by  themselves.  In  the  pro- 
ceedings of  incorporating  the  respective  congrega- 
tions, this  distinction  was  studiously  avoided,  and  the 
only  public  evidence  of  its  existence  is  the  inscription 
of  the  letters  "0  S"  on  the  cornerstone  of  the 
Bridge  Street  Church. 

The  membership  of  the  congregation  was  as  fol- 
lows :  In  1850,  32 ;  in  1865,  105 ;  in  1873,  225 ;  in  1900. 
159;  in  1913,  271. 


80  EARLY  HISTORY 

Tlie  pastors  have  been : — 

Li'.slit"    Irwin    1839-C5  David    Harbison    1876-1901 

.lames     Lewis    1865-68  Benj.    P.   Hammond    1902-09 

William    Fulton    1868-75  Harry  W.  Ewig  1909-14 

Four  young  men  of  this  church  became  candidates 
for  the  ministry,  and,  after  a  thorough  preparation, 
were  regularly  installed  as  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
according  to  the  Presbyterian  faith.  Their  names 
are  Nathaniel  McFetridge,  John  Irwin,  Albert  J. 
Weisley  and  Joseph  L.  Weisley. 

The  "Semi-Centennial  Jubilee"  of  the  church 
was  appropriately  celebrated  by  the  congregation 
May  6-11,  1900;  and  as  a  "souvenir"  of  this  historic 
occasion,  a  neat  little  volume  was  compiled,  embracing 
a  concise  history  of  the  church,  and  distributed  among 
the  members. 

A  Sunday-school  was  organized  by  the  first  pastor 
about  the  time  he  began  his  pastorate  here  and  it  has 
been  conducted  until  the  present  time.  The  superin- 
tendents have  been  Joseph  McMullin,  John  Hudders, 
and  William  Weisley,  the  last  named  since  July  14, 
1872.    The  membership  in  December,  1913,  was  170. 

Visiting  Ministers — Numerous  visiting  ministers 
preached  in  the  old  church.  Thomas  P.  Hunt,  an 
itinerant  preacher,  an  ardent  anti-slavery  man  and  a 
"Washingtonian"  (as  the  temperance  men  were  then 
called),  would  come  periodically  without  notice.  He 
was  a  small  hump-backed  man;  but  his  tongue  was 
straight  and  lively.  On  one  occasion  he  came  unan- 
nounced, and  he  was  in  the  pulpit  as  the  congregation 
assembled.  The  pulpit  was  high  and  suitable  for  tall 
men.  On  this  occasion,  after  the  choir  had  finished 
singing,  he  suddenly  popped  up  (only  his  head  show- 
ing above  the  pulpit)  and  announced  his  text  by  the 
startling  words,  "  It  is  I,  be  not  afraid. ' ' 

Rev.  Charles  H.  Russell  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College  and  came  here  as  a  teacher  in  the  Bridge-street 
school-house.    He  preached  as  a  "supply"  and  gener- 


FAIRVIEW  CEMETERY  81 

ally  had  notes  of  his  sermon.  On  one  occasion  a  gust 
of  wind  blew  the  loose  notes  of  his  sermon  in  every 
direction,  whereupon  old  John  McClintock,  who  oc- 
cupied the  lirst  pew.  jumped  up  and  began  to  gather 
them  together  when  Russel  called  out  in  a  loud  twang, 
"Never  mind.  John,  let  them  fly."  and  proceeded 
with  the  discourse  to  the  end  without  his  notes. 

Academy — An  academy  was  erected  in  1848-4!)  on 
the  Presbyterian  lot  by  Alfred  Cattemore  (an  English 
carpenter  who  had  "strayed"  here),  by  securing  sub- 
scriptions from  the  members ;  and  the  Crane  Iron  Co. 
advanced  $1,200  towards  the  cost  of  it,  for  which  they 
took  a  mortgage.  This  was  regarded  as  a  model  scliool 
at  that  time.  It  had  ventilators  in  the  ceiling,  and 
each  pupil  had  his  own  desk  with  an  ink-well  set  in 
on  top  and  screwed  fast,  and  shelves  Avere  arranged 
underneath  for  his  books.  It  was  continued  in  use  as 
a  private-school  until  1856  when  it  was  sold  to  the 
Catasauqua  School  District  for  $2,530,  and  the  pro- 
ceeds, after  satisfying  the  mortgage,  were  distri])uted 
in  e<iual  proportions  to  the  two  congregations.  The 
trustees  of  this  school  were 

David  Thomas  William    Taylor 

Robert   Mclntyre  David   Williams 

Samuel    Thomas  Owen    Rice 

John  Peter 

The  School  District  held  and  occupied  this  school- 
house  and  lot  for  40  years,  until  the  erection  of  the 
Lincoln  school  building ;  then  it  was  abandoned  for 
school  purposes.  Subsecpiently  it  was  sold  to  James 
W.  Fuller  for  $5,000.  and  he  erected  thereon  a  com- 
modious mansion  for  himself,  which  is  still  standing, 
and  occupied  by  his  son. 

The  teachers  were  John  Hudclers  and  his  wife, 
Esther  Hudders,  Joseph  Leonard,  Rebecca  Leonard, 
Samuel  P.  Bliss.  Alonzo  W.  Kinsey,  Charles  H.  Rus- 
sell, and  others. 

FAIRVIEW  CEMETERY  was  founded  by  James 
AV.  Fuller  of  Catasauqua  in  1858,  having  purchased 


82  EARLY  HISTORY 

from  Ivobci-t  Melntyre  and  Peter  Miller  6  acres  110 
perches  of  land  in  South  Whitehall  (now  Whitehall) 
township,  across  the  Lehigh  river  from  Catasaiupia, 
for  ])ni'ial  purposes,  because  the  conveniences  of  inter- 
ment in  the  borough  were  limited.  Before  that  time, 
the  dead  bodies  of  the  town  had  been  buried  in  the 
grave-yartls  adjoiinng  the  Pi-esbyterian  Church  at 
Church  street  and  Church  alley,  and  that  adjoining 
the  St.  Paul's  Lutheran  Church  on  Howertown  Road, 
and  also  that  adjoining  the  old  Evangelical  Church  at 
Mull)erry  street  and  Howertown  Road.  Fuller  laid 
off  the  land  into  burial  lots,  10  by  20  feet,  and  named 
the  place  "Fairview  Cemetery"  on  account  of  its  ele- 
vated situation ;  and  he  provided  in  each  deed,  exe- 
cuted and  delivered  by  him,  for  lots  in  the  cemetery, 
"that  when  one-half  of  the  lots  in  the  original  plot 
were  sold,  the  purchasers  were  empowered  to  form 
an  association  for  the  care  and  management  of  its 
affairs,  make  rules  and  regulations  for  its  government, 
elect  officers  and  have  complete  control  of  the 
ground." 

In  1871,  an  organization  was  formed  by  the  lot- 
holders,  who  elected  the  following  managers : — 

Melchior   H.   Horn,   president. 
R.  A.  Boyer   (sec.  and  treas.)  Samuel   L.   Nevins 

David  A.  Tombler  James  W.   Swartz 

R.  Clay  Hamersly  William   H.   Ijaubach 

John   Thomas  Orange    M.    Fuller 

A  petition  was  presented  to  Court  for  the  incor- 
poration of  "The  Fairview  Cemetery  Association," 
and  the  decree  was  made  on  Sept.  13,  1872.  The  dead 
interred  in  the  grave-yards  of  the  borough  were  then 
removed  to  the  cemetery. 

Many  fine  monuments  have  been  set  up  in  this  ceme- 
tery. It  includes  a  superb  "Soldiers'  Monument" 
which  is  recognized  as  the  first  erected  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  this  was  accomplished  largely  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Samuel  Thomas  in  response  to  an 


SOLDIERS'  MONUMENT  83 

earnest  re(|uest  of  his  ])rother  David,  made  shortly 
before  his  death  in  1862. 

A  superior  and  attractive,  enclosed  pavilion  was 
placed  in  the  circle,  next  to  the  Soldiers'  Monument, 
by  the  Association  in  1(S95;  and  another  prominent 
feature  is  the  large  vault  of  David  Thomas. 

Soon  after  the  cemetery  had  become  the  property 
of  the  Association  in  1872,  two  bequests  were  made 
to  it  by  James  W.  Fuller  and  Samuel  Glace  with  the 
condition  that  the  income  should  be  expended 
towards  the  perpetual  care  and  preservation  of  their 
burial  lots.  Since  then  numerous  other  lot-holders 
have  followed  their  example. 

The  total  lots  laid  off  number  2,317.  The  graves  to 
January,  1914,  number  4,800. 

John  Kane  was  the  first  soldier  of  the  Civil  War 
buried  in  this  cemetery,  April  27,  1862,  and  the  ex- 
traordinary event  attracted  many  people. 

SOLDIERS'  MONUMENT— At  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War,  the  patriotic  impulses  of  this  community 
gave  a  practical  appreciation  of  the  costly  services  of 
the  volunteer  soldiers  from  Catasauqua  and  the  vicin- 
ity, by  the  erection  of  a  costly  marble  monument  on 
the  circular  plot,  reserved  for  it  in  the  cemetery,  and 
on  the  four  sides  of  the  shaft  there  are  inscribed  the 
names,  rank  and  regiment  of  each  soldier  who  boldly 
went  forth  to  battle  that  the  Union  might  and  should 
be  preserved,  numbering  altogether  157,  and  also  the 
names  of  the  battles  in  which  they  were  engaged,  and 
twenty-six  of  these  soldiers  were  killed  or  died  in 
service.  And  across  the  top  of  the  shaft  hangs  the 
American  flag  in  graceful  folds,  surmounted  by  the 
striking  figure  of  an  American  eagle  with  outspread 
wings,  as  if  standing  guard  over  the  heroes  sleeping 
quietly  there  till  the  resurrection  morn.  Around  the 
monument  a  space  was  at  first  reserved  for  the  burial 
of    veteran    soldiers    but    this    idea    was    afterward 


84  EARLY  HISTORY 

aliaiuloned  in  order  to  set  apart  the  monument  more 
effoc'tually. 

The  monument  was  solemnly  dedicated  on  Oct.  3, 
1866,  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  pursuant  to  ar- 
rangements by  the  Monument  Association,  and  Rev. 
C.  Earle,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
delivered  an  historical  address.  In  the  course  of  his 
remarks,  the  pastor  emphasized  the  statement  that 
neither  his  name  nor  the  name  of  any  other  civilian 
member  of  the  committee  appeared  anywhere  on  the 
shaft  in  pursuance  of  a  provision  by  the  Monument 
Association  at  the  time  of  its  inception  "that  no  man's 
name  shall  be  inscribed  on  the  monument  unless  he 
was  sworn  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  and 
was  under  the  enemy 's  fire ; "  so  that  it  is  just  what  it 
purports  to  be.  "A  Soldiers'  Monument." 

Maj.  A.  R.  Calhoun  was  the  orator  and  he  delivered 
an  impressive  oration  to  a  large  concourse  of  people 
who  had  assembled  from  all  the  towns  and  places  of 
the  Lehigh  Valley,  including  many  men  who  had  been 
in  actual  service  and  faced  the  enemies  of  their 
country. 

In  1871,  Gen.  Charles  Albright,  member  of  Con 
gress,  introduced  a  special  act  of  Congress  to  donate 
four  siege  guns  and  24  cannon  balls  of  unused  artil- 
lery to  the  George  W.  Fuller  Post,  No.  74,  G.  A.  R., 
for  the  adornment  of  this,  "the  first  soldiers'  monu- 
ment in  Pennsylvania ; ' '  and  in  1884,  upon  the  re- 
organization of  Fuller  Post  No.  378,  G.  A.  R.,  the 
Secretary  of  War  ordered  the  Commandant  of  the 
Watervliet  Arsenal  at  West  Troy,  N.  Y.,  to  issue  to 
said  Post  four  64-pounder  cannons,  two  of  the  Eng- 
lish model  of  1812  weighing  respectively  5,514  and 
5,498  pounds,  and  two  U.  S.  guns  of  the  1819  and 
1829  models,  weighing  respectively  5,014  and  5,000 
pounds;  and  these  were  placed  at  the  four  corners  of 
the  monument  as  an  appropriate  and  expressive  orna- 
mentation. 


SOLDIERS'  MONUMENT 


85 


Roll  of  Honor — The  names  of  the  enlisted  men  in- 
scribed on  the  shaft,  with  their  rank  and  organization 
as  a  "  Roll  of  Honor, ' '  are  as  follows : — 

4etii  Rcn't..  I'.   V. 
Officerx. 


Major  Arnold  C.  Lewis 
Capt.  Joseph  Matchette 
Lieut.  Wm.  R.  Thomas 
Lieut.  Robert  Wilson 
Lieut.  Edward  Cramsie. 
Lieut.  James  McQuillen 
Ord.  Serg.  Isaac  Davies 
Serg.    Daniel    Davis 


Privates 


Wallace   Brown 
John   Blair 
David   Bachman 
John   Brown 
John   Cannnn 
Daniel  Dw^ier 
Daniel    Desmond 
Alex:.   Doneghue 
Hugh    Dougherty 
Philip   Hill 
Ceo.   Hasson 
Jeremiah    Keefe 
John    Kilpatrifk 
John    Leo 
Thomas   Mooney 
John    McMurtrie 

-ilth 


Reo't.,    P. 
Officers. 


Capt.  Henry  S.  Harte 
Capt.   Edwin   Gilbert 
Lieut.    James    W.    Fuller 
Lieut.    Geo.   W^.    Fuller 
Lieut.   Wm.   H.   Bartholomew 
Lieut.    Augustus    Eagle 
Lieut.    Henry   H.    Bush 
Lieut.    Thos.    F.    Lambert 
Ord.   Serg.  James  Tait 
Ord.   Serg.   Wm.   H.   Glace 
Serg.  John  W.  Heberling 
Serg.  Richmond  H.  Schwab 
Serg.   Jos.   J.    Lilly 
Serg.    Albert    H.    McHose 


Serg.  Morgan    Richards 

Serg.  John  J.   Davis 

Corp.  Robt.   E.   Williams 

Corp.  Wm.    McMonegal 

Corp.  Hugh    Lyons 

Corp.  John   Patrick 

Corp.  John  Moore 

Corp.  John  H.   Price 
Musician   Andrew   Sinley 

James    McCracken 
James    McLaughlin 
David    McCandless 
John   McQuillen 
John    McFadden 
John    Reed 
Solomon  J.   Rowe 
Michael   Rohfritz 
John  Richards 
Patrick  Reilly 
John  Son 
Patrick    Sullivan 
Wm.    Thomi)6on 
Franklin   Ward 
S  inniel   Zellncr 

f. 

Serg.   W.   F.   Longenhagen 
Serg.   John  L.  Jones 
Corp.  Joseph  H.  Schwab 
Corp.   G.   H.   Longenhagen 
Corp.   Martin   O'Brien 
Corp.  Josiali  H.  Walk 
Corp.    James   E.    Patterson 
Corp.    Robt.    Cunningham 
Corp.   Augustus  P.   Eberhart 
Corp.  Chas.  L.  Nolf,  Jr. 
Corp.    Spencer   Tettermer 
Corp.  Jas.  Ritter 
Corp.   W.   H.   Van   Dyke 
Mus.  David  A.  Tombler,  Jr. 


86 


EARLY  HISTORY 


David    Andrews 

Abraiii    Bander 

Godfrey    Betz 

Stephen   Beers 

Hirnni   A.   Beitelinan 

Win.   Christ 

Ambrose    Dietrich 

Wm.    Ehrich 

Orlando    Fuller 

Fred.   Fisher 

Kainey  Grader 

Addison   R.   Geho 

Joseph  Geiger 

Joseph  Gross 

Joseph    HunsicKer 

William   Herman 

Isaac  Jacoby 

Wm.  Jordan 

John  Kane 

Geo.    Kerchner 

Nicholas    Kuhn 

Wm.     Kuntz 

Reuben    H.    Keim 

Philip    King 

Charles  King 

J.   K.   Longenhagen 

Joel   Laudenslager 

John    Lucky 

Differ 
Milton  J.  Hooker,  1  Pa.  Res. 
Joseph   Shelly,    1   Pa.    Res. 
Stephen  Sheirer,  1  Pa.  Res. 
John    SchoUe,    3    Pa.    Res. 
Joe.   Davies,   53   Pa.   Vols. 
James   Hutchison,    53   Pa.   Vols 
John  McClelland,   53   Pa.   Vols 
George    Henry,    54    Pa.    A'^ols. 
John   Case,    58    Pa.   Vols. 
John  Saurwine,  58  Pa.  Vols. 
William  Paul,  188  Pa.  Vols. 
Thomas  Smith,  202  Pa.  Vols. 
Charles  Boyle,    6   Pa.   Cav. 

Battles   of 
Winchester,   Va., 
Middletown,    Va. 
AVinchester,    A'^a., 


Chus.  H.   Michel 
Daniel  Newhart 
,]ohn    O'Brien 
Michael   O'Brien 
Wm.   Offhouse 
Griff.    Reinhart 
Robt.  M.   Sheats 
Nicholas   Smith 
(I'otlieb  Schriim 

F.  H.  Wilson 
John  P.  Weaver 
John   Worley 
John  Weiss 

G.  Assenheimer 
Wm.   Henry 
Emanuel    Leffler 
Aaron    Laub 
Chas.   Leffler 
Frank    Leffler 
Benj.   Missimer 
Wm.   Mensch 
William    Myers 
Ed.   Mathcw 
Jenkin    Richards 
Alfred  Lynn 

W.   H.   Moll 
Geo.  Moll 

))(   Organizations. 

Samuel   Roberts,    6   Pa.   Cav. 

William  Berlin,   8  Pa.   Cav. 

James   R.    Henry,    8    Pa.   Cav. 

Peter  Mack,   8   Pa.   Cav. 

John   Keeffer,    16   Pa.   Cav. 

Samuel   Kiefer,    6   N.   J.    Cav. 

Abram  Miller,   6  N.  J.   Cav. 

Robert  Newhard,   6  N.  J.  Cav. 

Herbert  James,    12   U.   S.   Inf. 

John    Bigley,    14    U.    S.    Inf. 

Charles  Miller,   14   U.   S.   Inf. 

William   Newhard,    14   U.   S.   Inf. 

John   Graham,    U.    S.    Navy. 
the   4Rth  Regiment. 
March    23,    1862. 
May    25,    1862. 
May   26,    1862. 


FIRST  FUNERAL  87 

Cedar    Mountain,    Va.,    Aug.    9,    1862. 
Sulphur   Springs,    Va.,    Aug.    27,    1862. 
South    Mountain,    Md.,    Sept.    14,    1862. 
Autietani,    Md.,    Sept.    17,    1862. 
Chaneellorsville,   Va.,   May   1,   2,    3,    1863. 
Gettysburg,    July    1,    2,    3,    1863. 
Resaca,    Ga.,    May    15,    1864. 
Cassville,    Ga.,    May    19,    1864. 
Dallas,  Ga.,  May  25,   1864. 
Pine  Knob,   Ga.,  June  9,   1864. 
Kulp's  Farm,  Ga.,  June  22,   1864. 
Pine   Tree   Creek,    Ga.,   July   26,    1864. 
Atlanta,   Ga.,   Sept.   6,   1864. 
Cypress   Swamp,   Ga.,   Dec.   8,   1864. 
Savannah,    Ga.,    Dec.    21,    1864. 
Chesterfield,   C.   H.,    So.   Car.,   March   2,    1865. 
Averysboro,    No.    Car.,    March    14,    1865. 
Berryville,   Va.,    Sept.   5,    186^. 
Coon  Run,  No.  Car.,   April   10,   1865. 
Raleigh,   No.   Car.,   April  26,   1865. 

Battles    of    the    41th    Reyiment. 
St.  John's  BluflP,   Flor.,   Oct.   8,   1862. 
Pocataligo,    So.    Car.,    Oct.    22,    1862. 
Sabine    Cross    Roads,    La.,    April    8,    1864. 
Pleasant   Hill,    La.,   April   9,    1864. 
Cane  River,   La.,   April  25,    1864. 
Manasses   Plains,    La.,    May   16,    1864. 
Berryville,    Va.,    Cept.    5,    1864. 
Opequan  Creek,  Va.,  Sept.  19,  1864. 
Fisher's    Hill,    Va.,    Sept.    22,    1864. 
Cedar  Creek,  Va.,   Oct.   19,   1864. 

FIRST  FUNERAL— After  the  completion  of  the 
first  furnace,  a  young  man  named  John  Thomas  (a 
relative  of  the  superintendent)  fell  from  its  top  and 
was  killed.  Samuel  Thomas,  the  son  of  the  superin- 
tendent, told  me  a  few  years  prior  to  his  decease,  that 
he  saw  the  young  man  drop.  The  body  was  buried 
in  the  grave-yard  at  the  rear  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  on  5th  street,  in  Allentown.  It  was  carried 
on  a  bier,  on  the  shoulders  of  relays  of  fellow-employ- 
ees, who  wore  high  hats  from  which  hung  long 
streamers  of  black  crepe,  after  the  custom  at  that  time 
prevalent  in  Wales. 


88  EARLY  HISTORY 

Almost  every  inhabitant  of  the  hamlet  followed 
the  solemn  procession  on  foot  to  the  grave-yard, 
amongst  them  being  "Mother"  Thomas  (as  she  was 
afterward  afit'ectionately  called),  and  Mrs.  James 
Lackey.  After  the  completion  of  the  substantial  fam- 
ily vault  of  David  Thomas  in  Fairview  Cemetery,  the 
remains  were  removed  to  it.  Soon  after  this  funeral, 
a  burial  gi'ound  was  provided  in  Biery's-Port  on  the 
lot  adjoining  the  fi'ame  Presbyterian  Church  on 
Church  street. 

At  that  time  it  was  customary  in  the  surrounding 
country,  when  there  was  a  funeral,  to  place  the  coffin 
on  a  large  farm-wagon  on  a  bed  of  straw  and  chairs 
M'ere  arranged  around  the  coffin  for  the  chief  mourn 
ers.  On  account  of  the  thinly-settled  country,  rela- 
tives and  friends  came  a  considerable  distance  to  at- 
tend a  funeral,  and  after  the  burial  all  were  invited 
to  return  to  the  house  for  refreshments.  The  guests 
stood  in  a  row  and  waiters  served  them  with  a  cold 
lunch,  followed  by  helpers  who  carried  bottles  of 
whiskey  and  glasses  on  trays  and  offered  liquid  re- 
freshment to  all  such  as  wished  to  indulge. 

The  cholera  of  1854  was  fatal.  It  was  brought  here 
in  a  boat  from  Philadelphia.  Some  days  there  were 
several  funerals ;  and  it  was  indeed  a  gruesome  sight 
to  see  them  marching  up  Church  street,  the  coffin 
high  in  the  air  upon  the  carriers'  shoulders,  swaying 
to  and  fro,  followed  by  relatives  whose  lamentations 
filled  the  air.  Of  the  McClelland  family,  an  adult 
brother  and  sister  were  buried  the  same  day. 

Quite  a  number  of  boatmen  were  drowned  here  by 
the  rapid  rush  of  the  water  in  the  canal,  which  was 
caused  by  the  forcing  process  to  supply  a  strong  blast 
for  the  furnace,  and  their  bodies  were  buried  on  the 
Presbyterian  lot. 

Since  that  time,  there  has  arisen  a  great  change  in 
the  modes  of  burial,  and  in  the  construction  of  the 
coffins,  all  in  the  line  of  an  advanced  enlightenment. 


EARLY  SCHOOLS  89 

Then  there  were  no  means  of  embalming  or  preserv- 
ing the  bodies,  the  only  way  being  to  lay  them  on  sod. 
Burials  were  necessarily  made  soon  after  death. 

A  grave-yard  was  attached  to  the  St.  Paul's  Luth- 
eran Church ;  and  one  to  the  Evangelical  Church  at 
the  corner  of  Howertown  Road  and  Mulberry  street. 
Two  were  attached  to  the  Presbyterian  Churches. 

These  grave-yards  in  the  town  have  been  discon- 
tinued and  the  bodies  buried  there  removed  to  the 
Fairview  Cemetery.  It  has  been  estimated  that  about 
100  bodies  were  liuried  in  the  grave-yards  of  the  two 
Presbyterian  Churches. 

EARLY  SCHOOLS— The  first  school  was  held  in 
the  "Old  Church,"  and  started  with  15  pupils.  A 
Mr.  Landis  was  the  teacher,  and  he  was  soon  after- 
ward followed  l)y  a  young  man  named  Evans,  when 
it  was  transferred  to  the  Hanover  township  school- 
house  on  Deily's  Hill,  which  overlooked  the  dam 
opposite  the  foot  of  2nd  street.  This  was  before  1853, 
when  the  village  was  a  part  of  the  township.  The 
new  school  law^  had  previously  been  accepted.  The 
building  was  one  story,  with  one  room. 

The  first  school  building  established  within  the 
limit  of  the  borough  was  a  frame  shanty  put  up  by 
the  Crane  Iron  Co.  at  the  corner  of  Church  street 
and  Limestone  alley. 

The  second  was  erected  by  Hanover  township  at 
the  corner  of  Union  street  and  Railroad  alley  which 
the  borough  received  upon  its  incorporation. 

The  third  was  the  Bridge  street  school  in  1849. 

The  fourth  was  situated  on  lower  2nd  street,  which 
is  now  owned  by  the  Lenox  Manufacturing  Co. 

The  fifth  was  the  2nd  street  High-school  building  in 
1859. 

The  sixth  was  situated  on  lower  Front  street,  now 
owned  by  the  Temperance  Association. 

The  seventh  was  the  Lincoln  building  on  the  How- 
ertown Road. 


90  EARLY  HISTORY 

The  eighth  was  the  High-school  building,  adjoining 
the  Lincoln  building. 

In  addition  to  the  schools  mentioned,  a  three-story 
l)uilding,  situated  on  Front  street  near  Union,  was 
rented  and  used  for  school  purposes.  This  is  now 
owned  by  Frank  Hunsickei*,  Esq. 

]Mrs.  Esther  Iludders  conducted  a  private  school 
for  years  in  the  basement  of  the  Bridge  street  Presby- 
terian Church.  She  and  her  husband  were  the  first 
teachers  in  the  Bridge  street  school,  and  they  taught 
there  three  years. 

Teachers — The  early  teachers,  as  I  recall  them, 
were  the  following,  with  the  time  of  service : 

Margaret    Meeker    1845;    from    Allentown. 

D.    F.    Davis    1846;    from   Easton. 

Edward  Clarke  1847  .  from  Wyoming  Co.,   P.i. 

John   Hudders   1848   to   1852;    from   Irish   Settlement. 

Esther  Hudders  1848  to  1852;   from  Irish  Settlement. 

.Joseph    Leonard    1853  ;    from    Connecticut. 

Rebecca    Leonard    (sister   of   Joseph)    1854;    from    Connecticut. 

Annie   E.   Butchers    1854-55;    from   N.    Y.    State. 

Charles   L.    Russell   1855-56;    from   Bridgeport,    Conn. 

Samuel   P.   Bliss  1856;    from   Connecticut. 

Charles  H.   Kitchell   1857;    from  N.   Y.   State. 

Alonso  W.  Kinsey  1857;  from  Catasauqua. 

In  the  year  1858,  the  teachers  were :  Charles  L. 
Russell,  grammar  school ;  Alonzo  W.  Kinsey  and  Wil- 
liam H.  Barton,  secondary ;  Eliza  McKee  and  Anna 
Phillips,  primary. 

Mr.  Russell  having  resigned,  R.  Clay  Hamersly  be- 
came his  successor ;  then  his  school  was  regraded  and 
classified ;  the  advanced  pupils  were  formed  into  a 
High-school  which  was  assigned  to  Prof.  Hamersly. 
The  High-school  came  to  be  regularly  established  as  a 
part  of  the  system  in  1863,  with  Prof.  Hamersly  as, 
the  teacher. 

Pupils — The  attendance  of  the  pupils  was  regis- 
tered as  follows : — 

1858  300   1861  408 

1859  325   1862  450 

1860  365   1863  471 


EARLY  SCHOOLS  91 

Sessions — The  early  eustoni  was  to  continue  the 
sessions  of  school  from  four  to  six  months,  but  the 
founder  of  the  town  did  not  think  it  was  right  to 
allow  the  sons  of  his  workingmen  to  run  around  the 
streets;  so  he  erected  a  long  frame  building  at  the 
corner  of  Church  street  and  Limestone  alley  and  di- 
rected school  to  be  held  during  the  wliolc  \-eMi-  without 
any  vacation. 

Deily  School — A  teacher,  by  the  name  of  Toby, 
taught  for  some  time  in  the  school-house  on  Deily 's 
Hill  and  his  ability  and  success  were  highly  appre- 
ciated, but  like  other  good  teachers,  he  (juit  for  want 
of  proper  compensation.  He  M^as  followed  by  a 
teacher  who  had  the  remarkable  name  of  William 
Henry  Harrison  Barton,  but  he  also  quit  because  the 
salary  was  too  small.  Besides  leaving  his  great  name, 
he  left  an  incident  which  is  worth  preserving  in  con> 
nection  with  our  schools. 

Barton,  finding  his  salary  too  small,  resorted  to 
writing  stories  for  the  newspapers,  among  them  the 
Allcntown  Democrat,  whose  enterpi'ising  and  sympa- 
thetic publisher  engaged  him  to  write  a  certain  story 
and  promised  to  pay  him  $5  for  it  after  the  first  chap- 
ter was  published.  The  first  chapter  appeared  and 
proved  interesting,  but  the  $5  did  not  appear.  Not 
discouraged,  the  hopeful  author  supplied  the  second 
chapter.  l)ut  the  money  not  then  appearing,  he 
hesitated. 

This  led  the  publisher  to  urge  him  to  finish  the 
story,  which  showed  the  publisher's  interest.  The 
third  chapter  was  supplied,  but  the  author  left  the 
hero  of  his  story  in  an  awkward  position.  It  seems 
that  the  hero  was  about  to  be  married  and  on  his  way 
to  the  church  was  intercepted  by  a  swollen  stream. 
A  large  tree  fortunately  stood  on  the  edge  of  the  bank 
and  one  of  its  lower  branches  reached  to  the  other 
side ;  and  the  emergencj^  being  great,  the  hero  climbed 
the  tree  and  cautiouslv  worked  his  wav  out  on  this 


92  EARLY  HISTORY 

l>raiieh,  which  li'cinhh'd  under  his  weight  and  swayed 
to  and  fro.  Su(hh'nly,  his  foot  slipped,  and  in  falling 
he  was  caught  l)y  the  seat  of  his  trousers,  where  the 
wary  author  left  his  trembling  hero,  and  sent  word 
to  his  anxious  publisher  that  he  proposed  to  let  him 
there  until  he  received  his  $5. 

The  money  was  promptly  paid,  the  concluding 
chapter  of  the  story  rescued  its  hero  from  his  perilous 
situation  over  a  raging  torrent,  and  a  happy  marriage 
ensued,  which  delivered  both  reader  and  publisher 
from  further  suspense. 

iNDiCATOit — I  recall  a  large  scjuare  board  which 
stands  out  prominently  in  my  mind  in  connection  with 
the  Deily  School.  It  hung  on  a  nail  near  the  door.  On 
one  side  was  painted  in  plain  letters  the  word  IN,  and 
on  the  other,  the  word  OUT.  This  constituted  one  of 
the  rules  of  the  school ;  quiet,  easily  understood,  but 
very  expressive. 

One  day,  a  little  fellow  in  the  centre  of  the  room 
raised  his  right  hand  to  make  use  of  his  privilege  to 
retire,  without  first  looking  to  see  how  the  board  was 
turned.  The  teacher  said  sternly,  "Did  you  look  at 
the  board?"  Undaunted,  the  boy,  with  a  tremor  in 
his  voice,  replied:  "But,  teacher,  please,  I  must  go!" 
The  teacher  yelled :  ' '  Go,  but  don 't  you  dare  to  sneak 
off  for  candy  ! ' ' 

The  boy  retired  and  slammed  the  door  after  him, 
which  caused  the  board  to  drop  to  the  floor.  This  ex- 
cited the  quick  wit  of  an  older  boy,  who  raised  his 
left  hand  with  a  loud  snap  of  his  finger  to  attract 
the  teacher 's  attention,  and  the  teacher  responded 
curtly :  "Well,  what  now?"  The  boy  said  meekly,  with 
a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  ' '  The  board  dropped  and  the  sig- 
nal's  gone."  "The  what's  gone?"  said  the  teacher; 
when  the  boy  answered  ' '  The  light 's  out. ' '  This  put  a 
twinkle  in  the  teacher's  eye,  and  he  said,  "Well,  boy. 
you're  bright;  put  up  the  light." 


EARLY  SCHOOLS  93 

Reading  Class — In  reading,  a  class  stood  up  and 
read  in  consecutive  order  from  the  head  to  the  foot,  or 
vice-versa;  and  so  the  English  reader  was  read 
through  and  coniinenced  over  again  and  re-read,  it 
was  considered  the  proper  thing  when  the  end  of  the 
book  was  reached  at  tiie  Latin  word  FINIS,  for  the 
last  pupil  in  the  course  of  reading  to  call  out  loudly, 
"Five  Irish  Niggers  in  Spain,''  and  the  next  to  re- 
verse the  order  of  the  letters  and  call  out  "Six  Irish 
Niggers  in  France,"  and  this  performance  generally 
ended  in  a  trouncing. 

Class  Leaders — It  was  custonuiry  to  choose  two 
leaders  of  a  spelling-class  who  were  selected  by  the 
pupils  to  fill  up  their  respective  sides,  and  whenever 
a  word  was  mis-spelled  by  a  pupil  in  the  class,  he  (juit 
and  this  was  continued  until  only  one  was  left,  who 
represented  the  winning  side. 

Pens — Quills  were  used  as  pens  and  a  part  of  the 
teacher  "s  duties  was  to  make  them  after  school  hours, 
ready  for  the  next  session.  I  remember  the  day  the 
first  steel  pens  were  introduced.  They  were  imported 
from  England  and  called  "Jos.  Gillotte  Pens," 
Avhich  were  sold  to  the  pupils  two  for  three  cents. 
All  school  supplies  then,  even  the  ink,  were  sold  to 
the  pupils. 

Teachers'  Pay — The  teachery's  pay,  $1,061/4,  was 
brought  by  the  pupils  every  three  months  and  this 
was  generally  paid  in  Mexican  money.  Spanish 
shillings  were  called  "levys;"  and  sixpences  or  half- 
shillings  were  called  "tips"  (6i/4  eents.) 

Punishment — Corporal  punishment  in  the  schools 
was  almost  universal.  Solomon's  admonition  "spare 
the  rod  and  spoil  the  child ' '  was  considered  the  proper 
doctrine.  Long  whips,  cut  from  the  stumps  of  trees 
after  the  woods  had  been  removed,  were  the  proper 
caper.  It  was  considered  good  practice  to  send  a  pupil 
out  into  the  yard  to  cut  them  and  bring  them  into  the 


94  EARLY  HISTORY 

sehool-i-ooin,  then  give  him  a  good  whipping  to  break 
his  spirits  and  so  develop  obedience. 

Rulers  were  thrown  at  scholars  for  whispering, 
who  were  directed  to  bring  them  to  the  teacher,  then 
hold  out  their  little  hands  to  the  teacher  who  slapped 
them  until  the  offenders  wriggled  with  pain. 

Pupils  who  failed  to  understand  their  sums  in  Men- 
suration were  compelled  to  stand  on  a  desk  and  hold 
a  brick  in  one  hand  and  count  the  corners  of  the 
Bridge  street  Presbyterian  Church.  This  M^as  before 
the  parsonage  was  erected. 

Some  of  the  teachers  in  those  days  were  barl)arous 
in  their  treatment  of  the  pupils.  They  would  sneak 
behind  the  pupil  who  had  made  a  mistake  in  his  sums 
and  yank  him  from  his  seat  by  pulling  him  by  the  ear, 
or  take  a  book  and  bang  him  on  the  side  of  the  head. 
I  remember  one  teacher  who  called  up  his  pupils  and 
slapped  them  on  their  hands  with  a  black  ruler  (which 
was  supposed  to  be  more  painful  than  a  white  one), 
meanwhile  chewing  tobacco  vigorously  and  expector- 
ating into  a  large  spittoon  five  feet  off. 

Another  cruel  feature  of  those  days  was  this  :  "When 
a  class  was  called  up  to  recite  or  spell,  the  pupil  who 
missed  had  to  go  to  the  foot  of  the  class,  and,  at  the 
close  of  the  lesson,  tell  the  teacher  how  many  mistakes 
were  made,  and  so  many  times  would  the  teacher 
slap  the  palm  of  the  hand  hard  with  a  black  ruler. 
Oh,  how  those  slaps  would  sting!  The  burning  sen- 
sation would  continue  for  hours. 

Town-Ball — Among  the  games  for  the  boys  was 
one  called  town-ball.  Self-appointed  leaders  divided 
the  boys  into  two  contesting  parties  or  sides  by  select- 
ing one  at  a  time  alternately  until  the  number  present 
was  exhausted ;  and  that  leader  started  the  selection 
by  winning  the  toss  of  the  bat,  "wet"  or  "dry," 
either  having  spat  on  one  side  and  tossed  it  into  the 
air,  then  the  other  would  have  to  guess,  and  if  the  lat- 


PUBLIC   LIBRARY  95 

ter  got  his  guess  he  would  take  his  side  to  the  bat, 
and  the  other  his  side  to  the  field. 

The  bat  was  a  heavy  paddle,  not  a  round  stick  as 
now.  The  ball  was  not  a  purchased  article;  it  was 
generally  made  by  some  boy  out  of  his  woolen  socks 
which  were  unravelled  and  the  yarn  was  wound 
around  some  rul)ber  strips  cut  from  an  old  gum-shoe, 
or  around  a  small  piece  of  cork,  and  sewed  in  a  leather 
cover. 

There  were  four  corners,  like  the  points  of  a  square 
figure ;  sometimes  five  corners,  an  extra  one  between 
the  second  and  third,  making  the  points  of  a  pentagon. 
If  the  batter  struck  at  the  ball  and  missed  it  and  the 
catcher  caught  it  he  was  out ;  but  if  he  hit  it  he  had 
to  run  and  make  his  base.  If  the  ball  was  caught  on 
the  fiy  or  even  one  bound  he  was  out.  All  the  players 
had  to  be  made  out ;  then  the  side  would  select  its 
best  batter  to  bat  and  if  he  succeeded  in  making  three 
"home-runs,"  his  side  could  start  anew;  otherwise  the 
fielders  would  take  their  turn  at  the  bat. 

The  score  of  runs  was  frequently  very  high  in  the 
game.  It  was  kept  by  cutting  notches  in  a  stick  or  by 
tallies  of  five. 

If  the  ball  should  be  lost  in  the  grass,  the  fielders 
would  cry  "lost-ball,"  and  the  play  was  suspended 
until  the  ball  was  found. 

A  runner  at  or  around  the  bases,  hit  by  a  thrown 
or  batted  ball,  w^as  regarded  as  out.  The  ball  was  not 
hard;  frequently,  it  was  a  hollow,  flexible  "Goodyear" 
ball,  which  w^as  preferred. 

PUBLIC  LIBRARIES— In  1846,  The  Crane  Iron 
Co.  started  a  library  of  250  books  for  the  use  and  im- 
provement of  their  employees.  A  room  was  set  apart 
on  the  second  floor  of  the  old  two-story  brick  office 
building  on  Front  street  opposite  the  furnaces  for  this 
purpose  and  it  was  kept  up  for  nine  years.  This  is 
another  evidence  of  Mr.  Thomas'  desire  to  develop 
and  maintain  a  high  standard  in  the  community. 


96  EARLY  HISTORY 

« 

About  1878,  Oliver  Williams,  another  prominent 
man  here  in  the  indiisti'ial  affairs  of  the  Lehigh  Val- 
ley, took  an  active  j^art  with  other  persons  in  estab- 
lishing a  library.  Several  hundred  volumes  of  pro- 
miscuous books  were  collected  and  a  successful  read- 
ing-circle amongst  the  young  people  was  kept  up  until 
May  1891,  when  the  books  were  presented  to  the  High- 
school  and  added  to  its  collection.  The  room  was  in  a 
building  on  Church  street,  west  of  the  Town-Hall, 
where  a  cigar  store  is  now  conducted. 

BRASS  BAND— About  1845,  a  band  of  music  was 
organized  in  the  village  with  John  Thomas  as  leader 
and  the  last  survivor  was  Samuel  Thomas.  It  contin- 
ued until  1854,  when  Samuel  Thomas  and  other  prin- 
cipal players  removed  to  Hokendauqua.  The  instru- 
ments were  made  of  brass,  some  of  which  were  very 
large  and  attracted  much  attention  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  their  size  but  of  the  great  volume  of  tone  pro- 
duced by  the  strong-winded  players.  The  slide- 
trombonists  were  placed  in  the  front  rank,  and 
in  their  sliding  movements  reached  out  so  far  at  times 
that  the  little  boys,  who  walked  along  in  a  listless, 
wondering  manner,  would  be  shocked  wdth  a  bump 
head-foremost  if  they  didn't  keep  their  distance. 

TEMPERANCE  SOCIETIES— David  Thomas  was 
particularly  solicitous  of  establishing  the  practice  of 
temperance  in  the  grooving  community  and  encour- 
aged his  workmen  to  sustain  his  efforts  in  this  behalf. 
Two  lodges  were  organized,  one  for  adults  called  the 
George  Crane  Division,  and  the  other  for  boys,  called 
the  Crystal  Fount  Section,  No.  2.  The  members  up- 
held the  movement  in  an  active  manner  for  twelve 
years  until  1857.  It  may  be  remarked  that  the  young 
men  who  became  identified  with  this  beneficent  cause 
kept  clear  of  the  baneful  influence  of  liquor  in  their 
later  years. 

POLITICAL  ANIMOSITY— As  elsewhere,  polit- 
ical animosit}^  manifested  itself  in  this  vicinity  in  var- 


POLITICAL  ANIMOSITY  97 

ious  Avays  on  different  occasions.     1  submit  three  in- 
stances of  the  many  that  might  be  given. 

Spiked  Cannon — The  Allentotcn  Democrat,  in  No- 
vember, 1844,  contained  the  following  item  relating 
what  the  Whigs  had  done  to  the  Democrats  right 
after  the  State  election  which  resulted  in  their  defeat 
at  the  polls : — ' '  The  Democrats  found  their  cannon 
spiked  when  about  to  fire  it  off  on  Saturday  afternoon 
in  honor  of  their  late  victory.  This  shows  to  what 
means  the  'coons'  will  descend  to  get  revenge.  We 
would  caution  our  friends  to  be  on  the  look-out,  for 
we  would  not  trust  them  in  our  hen-coop." 

Salt  River  Parade — But  the  Democrats  could  also 
show  feeling  against  the  Whigs  in  1858.  The  fight  dur- 
ing the  campaign  and  at  the  polls  was  bitter,  and 
being  successful  as  a  matter  of  course,  they  had  to 
ridicule  the  foe  by  taking  them  up  "Salt  River." 
Those  at  Catasauqua  therefore  got  up  a  badge  and 
distributed  it  throughout  the  community  for  the 
amusement  of  the  participants  in  the  political  jollifi- 
caion;  which  made  the  anouncemeiit  of  the  proposed 
excursion  in  the  following  interesting  manner,  even 
if  it  was  sarcastic  : — 

BOUND   FOR   LECOMPTOX   RETREAT 

at  the   head  of 

FREE   trade   river. 

The  slow  southern  steamer  Old  Buck  will  leave  for  Lecomptou  Re- 
treat at  the  head  of  Free  Trade  River  from  Biery's-Port  on  Monday 
morning  next,  October  25th,  at  sunrise: — 

Commander  and   Dictator Bill   Biery 

First   Mate Old    Sol 

Second    Mate Wash    Bogh 

Steward      •  ■  .Charley     Beck 

Clerk .  .  .  Al    Woolever 

Engineer Jake   Bogh 

Fireman     •  •  ■  .Jack    Heinle} 

Cook Jake    Kester 

Bar-keeper Ike   Miller 

Purser    Joe    Laubach 


98  EARLY  HISTORY 

Pilot     J-    Gross 

Barber    Lew    Bogh 

Physician   Josh  Siegfried 

General  Ticket  Agent    Jim  Schall 

Boot-black  and  watchman    Joe  Lazarus 

A  colony  is  to  be  established  at  the  head  of  Free  Trade  River  where 
the  worshippers  of  Old  Buck  can  worship  him  at  their  heart's  content 
and  where  all  who  are  willing  to  bow  the  knee  and  submit  to  his 
Lecompton  Test  are  invited  to  settle — with  the  understanding  however 
that  no  settlers  will  be  allowed  to  advocate  Home  Protection  or  be 
unwilling  to  labor  for  10  cents  a  day. 

It  is  understood  that  the  small  great  men  of  the  Old  Keystone,  in- 
cluding the  Joneses,  the  Biglers,  the  Dewarts,  the  Landys,  the  Phillipses, 
and  the  Leidys  hav«  already  gone  in  advance. 

The  steerage  will  be  reserved  for  the  small-fry  politicians  in  Allentown 
who   subscribe  to   Lecompton. 

For  further  information  inquire  of  A.   S.   S.   Bridges,   Allentown,   and 
at  the  post  office  at  Biery's-Port,   just  below  Catasauiiua. 
Doylestown,   Oct.   20,   1858. 

Federalist  Denounced — Thomas  Barr,  a  resident 
of  Allen  township,  represented  Northampton  county 
in  the  State  Legislature  in  the  year  1852-53,  and 
he  was  elected  as  a  Federalist  or  Whig.  His  actions 
at  Harrisburg  excited  the  ire  of  the  Allentown  Demo- 
crat, which  was  led  to  criticise  him  in  the  following 
manner : — 

The  citizens  of  the  county  (Lehigh)  are  now  witnessing,  if  they  have 
not  been  made  to  feel,  the  evil  consequences  resulting  from  the  election 
of  Federalists  to  the  Legislature  by  our  sister  Northampton ;  and  the 
Democracy  of  the  latter  county  have  the  very  questionable  gratification 
of  knowing  that  her  representatives  are  laboring  zealously  to  prostrate 
the    best    interests    of    a    neighboring    constituency. 

With  true  Federal  instinct,  her  representatives  cling  to  and  support 
monopolies,  just  as  naturally  as  a  "nigger  takes  to  a  banjo"— vide 
Mr.  Bar'r's  course  in  the  matter  of  the  Catasauqua  &  Fogelsville  R.  R. 
He  seizes  every  opportunity  to  bring  it  up  in  the  House.  Scarcely  a 
bill  is  read  but  he  springs  up  with  an  amendment  to  strike  out  all 
after  the  enacting  clauses  and  insert  a  bill  to  authorize  the  Lehigh 
Crane  Iron  Co.  to  build  a  railroad  to  their  ore  mine,  lease  quarries, 
etc.  A  more  iniquitous  proposition,  we  venture  to  say,  has  rarely 
been  introduced  into  our  Legislature.  Without  regard  to  private 
rights,  and  for  the  benefit  only  of  a  mammoth  iron  company,  the 
Legislature  is  asked  to  cut  up  the  farms  of  a  rich  agricultural  region 
that  this  company  may  enjoy  a  still  greater  monopoly  of  the  iron 
business. 


MEXICAN  WAR  99 

We  ciiniiot  believe  that  the  Legislature  will  inflict  such  injustice  upon 
the  other  furnaces  along  the  Lehigh,  or  upon  those  whose  property 
it  is  proposed  thus  to  cut  up  and  sacrifice.  We  cannot  believe  that 
justice  has  yet  flown  from  our  Legislative  halls,  and  hence  we  cannot 
believe  that  a  project  more  iniquitous  than  the  famous  Gettysburg 
Railroad  will  be  fastened  upon   a  portion   of  our  citizens. 

A  charter  was  nevertheless  secured  in  1854,  and 
the  railroad  was  found  a  great  benefit  to  the  townships 
through  which  it  was  constructed,  in  that  it  relieved 
many  miles  of  the  public  roads  from  the  hard  and  in- 
jurious travel  by  the  numerous  ore  teams  in  trans- 
porting many  thousads  of  tons  of  iron  ore  from  the 
mines  of  the  Crane  Iron  Co.  to  its  large  and  prosper- 
ous works  in  Catasautjua.  These  roads  were  rendered 
almost  impassable  during  the  wet  seasons  before  the 
construction  of  this  railroad,  for  upwards  of  ten 
years,  and  the  persons  mostly  affected  were  the  ad- 
joining farmers,  though  many  of  them  received  large 
royalties  and  benefits  far  beyond  what  they  otherwise 
might  have  realized  from  cultivating  the  land. 

The  first  efforts  in  this  behalf  had  been  made  by 
securing  an  Act  of  Assembly,  dated  April  5,  1853, 
which  authorized  the  following  commissioners  to  es- 
tablish and  maintain  the  Catasauqua  and  Fogelsville 
Plank  Road,  and  the  Lehigh  Crane  Iron  Co.  to  sub- 
scribe for  stock : 

.lacob  Dillinger  Owen  Rice 

Samuel  Sieger  Jonas    Biery 

Aaron   Guth  Phaon  Albright 

David   Thomas  James    W.    Fuller 

Charles  W.  Cooper 

Finding  that  the  plank-road  was  an  impracticable 
enterprise,  an  Act  was  passed  April  20,  1854,  author- 
izing this  company  to  construct  and  maintain  a  rail- 
road instead  of  a  plank-road. 

IMEXICAN  WAR— During  the  Mexican  War,  two 
men  enlisted  from  here:  Levi  Kraft  (a  tinsmith  who 
worked  for  C.  G.  ^chneller),  and  Horatio  Good  (who 
lived  up  the  river).    They  went  to  Mauch  Chunk  and 


100  EARLY  HISTORY 

tliere  joined  tlieir  company;  then  to  Wilkes-Barre,  and 
by  canal  to  Ilarrisburg,  thence  to  Pittsburg,  thence 
by  river  steamer  to  New  Orleans.  Both  of  these  lived 
to  come  back,  wearing  their  peculiar  uniforms  of  the 
army  at  that  time,  with  caps  like  a  coal  skuttle, 
decorated  with  metal  chains.  Kraft  afterwards  served 
three  years  (1861-64)  in  the  47th  P.  V.  Reg.  and  died 
a  few  years  ago  at  Dayton's  Soldiers'  Home.  Good 
went  overland  to  California  and  was  killed  by  the 
Indians. 

Several  enlisted  men  from  Allentown  returned 
from  Mexico  at  the  same  time ;  but  one,  John  Kuhn, 
was  missing.  A  year  afterward,  he  returned  but  the 
cruelties  of  a  Mexican  prison  had  made  him  insane. 
His  home  thereafter  was  in  the  Lehigh  county  poor- 
house.  Every  year  for  25  years,  in  his  Summer  vaca- 
tions, he  visited  Catasauqua  in  his  old  uniform,  hat 
bedecked  with  flowers  and  a  cavalry  sword  hung  at  his 
side,  clanking  on  the  pavement ;  and  to  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  known  only  as  "Mexico  John."  No  one 
would  think  of  molesting  him  in  any  way ;  the  people 
showed  respect  for  him,  and  encouraged  him  in  his 
innocent  amusement. 

INCORPORATION— Application  was  made  to  the 
Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  of  Lehigh  County  on  April 
3,  1851,  for  the  incorporation  of  Catasauciua  into  a 
Borough.  The  decree  of  the  Court  was  made  Feb.  1, 
1853,  which  provided  as  follows : 

That  the  village  of  Catasauqua,  and  the  territory  in  and  around  the 
same  as  comprised  within  the  following  boundaries,  to  wit:  Beginning 
at  a  point  in  the  River  Lehigh  at  low  water  mark,  thence  through  land 
of  Paul  Faust,  on  the  line  dividing  the  said  county  of  Lehigh  from  the 
county  of  Northampton,  to  the  public  road  leading  from  bridge  to 
Howertown,  thence  down  the  said  road  in  the  middle  thereof,  to  a 
stone  corner  between  lands  of  George  Breinig  and  Henry  Kurtz,  thence 
on  the  line  between  the  said  lands  of  the  said  Breinig  and  Kurtz  to 
Catasauqua  creek,  thence  down  said  creek  the  several  courses  and 
distances  thereof  to  its  junction  with  the  River  Lehigh,  thenee  up  the 
said  River  Lehigh,  the  several  courses  and  distances  thereof  at  low 
water  mark  to  the  place  of  beginning,   be   and   the  same   is   hereby   de- 


INCORPORATION  101 

ilared  a  body  cdi-porate  in  law,  under  and  subject  to  the  provisions, 
ri'fiuirements  and  rnai-tments  of  the  Act  of  Assembly,  entitled,  "An 
Act  regulating  boroughs,"  approved  April  3,  1851,  to  be  known  and 
designated  in  law  and  otherwise  as  the  borough  of  Catasauqua,  and 
shall  constitute  a  separate  Election  and  School  District,  subject  to  all 
the  law^  now  in  force  regulating  such  districts.  The  election  for  bor- 
ough officers  is  hereby  directed  to  be  held  on  the  third  Friday  of 
March  annually,  at  the  public  house  now  in  the  occupancy  of  Charles 
Xolf.    until   removed  therefrom   according   to   law. 

Wliile  the  town  was  being  incorporated  there  were 
many  signs  of  activity  and  iuiniediately  afterward  the 
Town-Council  proceeded  energetically  with  grading 
the  streets  and  smoothing  off  the  rough  places  prepara- 
tory to  paving.  New  buildings  were  going  up,  among 
them  the  thi-ee-story  l)rick  hotel  of  Solomon  Biery, 
fronting  on  two  streets  near  the  old  stand;  the  hotel, 
store  and  dwelling  of  William  Gross  on  the  opposite 
corner,  he  having  secured  a  license  at  the  last  Court ; 
and  a  bridge  over  the  Lehigh  river  on  the  site  of  the 
old  chain  bridge.  The  Crane  Iron  Works  were  in  full 
blast  with  five  furnace  stacks  in  constant  operation. 

First  Officials — Election  officers  were  appointed 
who  were  directed  to  conduct  the  election  ' '  which  shall 
be  opened  only  to  citizens  legally  entitled  to  vote  who 
reside  within  the  territory  mentioned"  in  the  decree. 
The  first  officials  elected  were  the  following : 

Chief  Burgess — David  Thomas. 

Town     Council — Jesse     Knauss,     William     Biery,     Joshua     Hunt,     Jr., 

Joseph   Laubach,   John   Clark. 
Street   Commissioners — Morgan   Emanuel,    Jonas    Biery. 
High   Constable — Charles   Siegley. 
Auditor — John    Williams. 
Judge — Isaac  E.  Chandler. 

Inspectors — David   G.   Jones,    Augustus   H.   Gilbert. 
Assessor — Levi    Haas. 
School    Directors — James    Ginder,    Owen    Rice,    Charles    Nolf,    Charles 

G.   Schneller,   George  W.   Klotz,  James  Wilson. 
Justice    of   the   Peace — John    Hudders. 
Constable — Joseph    Lazarus. 

Name — Catasauqua  is  a  compound  word  meaning 
"dry-ground"   in   the   dialect   of   the   Lenni-Lenape 


102  EARLY  HISTORY 

tribe  of  ludians  wlio  first  inhabited  this  seetion  of 
country. 

"Catasauqua"  means  the  earth  is  thirsty;  and 
" Gattoshaci,"  wants  rain,  which  indicated  in  their 
language  that  the  vegetation  hereabouts  suffered  for 
want  of  rain.  The  creek,  which  empties  into  the  Le- 
high river  at  the  south  end  of  the  borough,  was  there- 
fore called  by  this  name.  On  some  of  the  earliest 
maps  of  the  land  hereabouts  it  was  called  Catasauqua; 
and  on  others,  Mill-creek,  because  a  mill  had  been 
erected  along  its  head-waters  by  Thomas  Wilson  in 
1735. 

The  Irish  settlers  recognized  this  parched  condi- 
tion of  the  ground  and  absence  of  vegetation  between 
the  river  and  Shoenersville,  and  therefore  avoided 
the  locality.     This  peculiarity  still  prevails. 

Hanover  Township— Hanover  township  was  es- 
tablished Aug.  15,  1798,  out  of  the  southern  section  of 
Allen  township,  and  was  a  part  of  Northampton  coun- 
ty until  the  erection  of  Lehigh  county  in  1812,  and  the 
county  line,  as  then  established,  extended  from  a  point 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Lehigh  river,  opposite  the  out- 
let of  Coplay  creek,  almost  at  right  angles  with  the 
river,  along  the  northerly  line  of  Hanover  township, 
and  included  the  western  half  of  the  township ;  and 
the  site  of  the  village  of  Biery's-Port  occupied  the 
N.  W.  corner  of  it.  Doubtless  its  location  led  the 
active  persons,  interested  in  the  erection  of  the  new 
county,  to  establish  the  line  so  as  to  include  the  vil- 
lage, in  order  to  give  its  inhabitants  and  property- 
holders  convenient  communication  with  the  county- 
seat  at  Allentown. 

First  Taxables — The  population  increased  rapidly 
from  the  founding  of  the  town,  and  in  1853  the  follow- 
ing persons  owned  property  here  : — 

Daniel   Davis 
George  Andrew,   tailor  Reuben    Dilgard 

John    Albright  George  Deily 


INCORPORATION 


103 


Xatlian    Andreas 

William  Biery,  carpenter 

Solomon  Biery 

Joseph   Brown,   tailor 

John    Boyer 

Hugh  Bratton,  laborer 

Jonas  Biery 

Daniel  Biery 

Jacob  Beil 

Aaron   Bast,   carpenter 

John    Brobst 

William    Bayard 

Charles  Becker,   minister 

Washburn  Bough,   boat-builder 

Lewis    Bough 

Lucinda  Biers 

Stephen   Biers 

David   Beidelman,   weaver 

Cliristim   Bough 

Amos   Buehmier,    tailor 

John   Clark 

Samuel   Colver 

William   Cramsey 

Jacob    Christ 

Charles   Deiler 

Noah   Davis 

Joshua   Hunt 

William  Jones 

John  James 

David  D.  Jones 

Aaron   Koch 

Owen   Kuntz,   blacksmith 

Jesse   Knauss,  liveryman 

Widow    Kreider 

John  Koons,  blacksmith 

Anthony   Knapp,  mason 

William  Kratzer 

Reuben   Kratzer 

Henry    Kurtz 

Samuel     Koehler 

James    Kerr 

A.    Kromer 

Joseph    Lichtenwallner 

James   Lackey,   merchant 

Widow  Leibert 

Joseph    Laubach,    innkeeper 

S.   H.   Laciar,   tinsmith 


.Jacob    Deily,    wheelwright 
Fred.    Eberhard,    contractor 
Morgan   Emanuel 
Samuel  Evans 
John  Evans 
Philip    Fenstemacher 
Paul  Faust 

James  W.   Fuller,   contractor 
Nathan   Frederick,   innkeeper. 
Thomas    Frederick,    merchant 
Jacob  F.   Pogel 
Reuben   Fenstemacher 
Henry    Fenstemacher 
Nathan   Fegley 
George    Foehler 

Owen    Frederick,    cabinet-maker 
William    Fegley,    carpenter 
Augustus   Gilbert 
Henry   Goetz 

James   Ginder,   boat-builder 
William  Gress,  merchant  and  inn- 
keeper 
Peter  Hinely 
Levi  Haas 

Henry   Hock,   saddler 
John   Hock 
Frederick  W.  Nagle 
Samuel  L.  Nevens 
Samuel   Old 

Reuben    Patterson,    shoemaker 
Jacob    Ruthman,    mason 
William   Romig 
Charles  W.   Rau,   saddler 
John  Roth 
Samuel  Romick 
Patrick  Roney 
Jacob    Leem,    shoemaker 
Simon    Sterner,   machinist 
Jonathan    Snyder 
Charles  G.   Schneider,   mason 
Charles    Sigley 
W'illiam    St  ill  wagon 
Nicholas    Snyder 
Samuel   Still 
Owen   Swartz 
Solomon    Swab 
James  Snyder 


104  EARLY  HISTORY 

.To)iii   Laubiicli  Pftcr    Sheckler 

Lnc-iiir  &   Co.,   nicrclKints  Cicorge    Snyder 

Jonas   Lilly  Josepli  Troxell,  shoemaker 

Robert  Mclntyre,   contractor  Oavid  A.  Tombler 

Widow   McAllister  David  Thomas 

John    Mclntyre  David  Thomas,  Jr. 

Peter    Morey  John  Thomas 

Jacob  Miller  Samuel  Thomns 

William    McLelland  Maria    Troxell 

William    Miller,    merchant  Wit'.ow  Wyman 

William    Minnick  David  Williams 

John   Machette  E.    P.    Weiss,   merchant 

William  McLelland    (3d)  Enos    Weaver 

William  Neighley,   carpenter  John  Wilson 

James  Nevens  Henry   Youndt 

David    Neighley  Enoch   Youndt 

Among  the  tenants  at  this  time  were  Moses  E.  Al- 
bright and  William  Steckel,  merchants;  Henry  Bush 
and  Charles  Nolf ,  innkeepers ;  Benjamin  Bush,  miller ; 
William  Tice,  carpenter;  Cornelius  Earle,  minister; 
and  Franklin  Martin,  physician. 

In  conse(iuence  of  necessary  grading  and  at  heavy 
excavations  in  streets,  and  the  building  of  a  lock-up, 
the  debt  of  the  borough  at  the  end  of  the  first  fiscal 
year  amounted  to  $3,200 ;  and  in  consequence  of  pay- 
ing land  damages  for  the  opening  of  streets,  interest, 
and  further  grading,  the  debt  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1855,  amounted  to  $4,000.  On  the  1st  of  April,  1863, 
it  was  $5,000,  and  from  that  time  forward  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  the  receipts  were  not  sufficient  to  pay  the 
interest  and  current  expenses,  leaving  an  annual  de- 
ficit. The  expense  of  building  the  town  hall  and  pur- 
chasing fire  apparatus,  etc.,  amounted  to  $22,000;  and 
there  being  an  average  annual  deficit  of  $700,  the  debt 
was  found  in  April,  1874,  to  be  $36,609.  The  tax- 
levy  had  never  amounted  to  more  than  $3,300  prior  to 
1874,  but  in  that  year  the  triennial  assessment  showed 
a  valuation  of  more  than  double  the  previous  assess- 
ments, and  thus  met  a  long-felt  vv-ant,  increasing  the 
tax-levy  so  as  to  pay  current  expenses. 


INCORPORATION  105 

The  town  hall  was  built  in  1868,  by  Fuller  &  Graf- 
fin,  whose  proposal  therefor  was  $11,500,  but  the  ulti- 
mate cost  was  $14,000,  a  number  of  changes  from  the 
original  plan  being  made.  The  lower  floor  is  occupied 
by  the  Phoenix  Fire  Co.  The  second  floor  has  been 
altered  for  a  Council  Chamber,  and  office  of  the  tax 
and  water  departments. 

Borough  Extended — The  borough  was  extended 
in  1895  by  annexing  a  part  of  Hanover  township 
which  lay  to  the  north  and  east,  and  was  described  in 
the  proceedings  as  follows : — 

Beginning  at  a  point  in  the  center  of  the  Catasauqua  creek  which  is 
in  the  present  boundary  line  of  the  borough;  thence  along  said  line 
north  88  degrees  and  42  minutes  west  192  feet,  more  or  less,  to  a 
stone,  and  south  59  degrees  and  28  minutes  west  1084  feet  and  6 
inches  to  an  iron  pipe,  in  the  center  of  Howertown  Road;  thence  along 
said  line  and  the  center  of  said  Howertown  Road  north  50  degrees 
and  13  minutes  west,  464  feet  and  4  inches  to  an  iron  pipe  in  the 
centre  of  said  Howertown  Road,  said  iron  pipe  being  also  in  the  line 
dividing  Lehigh  county  and  Northampton  county;  thence  along  said 
county  line  north  70  degrees  and  12  minutes  east  1412  feet,  more  or 
less,  to  a  point  in  the  said  Catasauqua  creek;  and  thence  down  said 
creek,  the  several  courses  and  distances  thereof  to  the  place  of  be- 
ginning. 

Wards  Established — The  petition  of  49  citizens  of 
the  borough  was  presented  to  the  Court  on  April  11, 
1876,  praying  for  a  division  of  the  borough  into  two 
wards  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  elections  and  ot 
securing  a  fair  representation  for  each  section  in  the 
Council  and  School  Board.  The  Court  appointed  Eli 
J.  Saeger,  J.  F.  Newhard  and  W.  B.  Powell  as  com- 
missioners, who  viewed  and  considered  the  premises, 
and  recommended  a  division  of  the  borough  into  two 
wards  as  prayed  for.  The  Court  confirmed  their  re- 
port, and  on  Jan.  19,  1877,  filed  a  decree,  dividing 
the  borough  into  two  wards,  named  respectively  First 
Ward  and  Second  Ward,  and  giving  the  boundaries  of 
each. 

In  1909,  an  application  was  made  to  extend  the 
borough  limits  on  the  east,  so  as  to  embrace  what  was 


106  EARLY  HISTORY 

conimoiily  known  as  East  Catasau(iua,  containing  435 
acres ;  and  after  due  proceedings  the  decree  of  annex- 
ation was  made  Oct.  3,  1909,  and  the  territory  was 
constituted  the  3rd  Ward.  The  commissioners  were 
William  Weisley,  John  R.  Tait  and  James  T.  Davis. 

In  1911,  the  2nd  Ward  was  divided  into  two  parts, 
and  the  eastern  part  was  constituted  the  4th  Ward. 
The  commissioners  were  II.  W.  Hankee,  Harvey  H. 
Knerr  and  Samuel  Heilman. 

Line  Adjusted — The  northerly  line  of  the  borough 
was  fixed  on  the  northerly  line  of  Hanover  town- 
ship in  Lehigh  county,  which  was  also  the  southerly 
line  of  Allen  township  in  Northampton  county ;  and 
this  borough  line  also  became  the  southerly  line  of  the 
borough  of  North  Catasauqua. 

This  line  was  in  dispute  for  many  years,  and  as  a 
consequence  many  taxpayers  and  voters  were  in  doubt 
as  to  where  they  lived.  Therefore  commissioners  were 
appointed  by  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  of  Le- 
high county,  and  they  filed  their  report  but  it  was  set 
aside  on  January  6,  1889. 

Subsequently,  another  set  of  commissioners  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  joint  action  of  Lehigh  and  Northamp- 
ton counties,  and  after  giving  the  matter  a  thorough 
investigation  they  esablished  the  line  according  to  the 
evidence  secured  and  submitted  their  report  to  both 
Courts,  which  was  confirmed  and  so  this  long-stand- 
ing controversy  was  settled.  Their  report  was  as 
follows : — 

Maj.  Samuel  D.  Lehr  of  Allentown,  Birge  Pearson  of  Eastou  and 
Thomas  S.  McNair  of  Hazleton  were  appointed  as  commissioners 
to  locate  the  correct  boundary  line  between  Lehigh  and  Northampton 
counties  north  and  east  of  Catasauqua  over  which  there  has  been  a 
dispute  for  many  years.  They  set  about  their  difficult  task  in  a  proper 
way,  examining  old  records,  maps  and  reports,  hearing  testimony  and 
taking  measurements  in  this  behalf,  and  then  located  the  line;  and 
they  reported  their  proceedings  in  this  behalf,  accompanied  by  three 
charts  which  show  the  line  along  the  east  end  of  Hanover  township, 
the  line  on  the   north   side   of  Hanover  township   and   Catasauqua,    and 


BANKS  107 

also  the  line  in  an  enlarged  form  tlirou^h  C.Ttasauqua  to  indicate  how 
individual  properties   are  out  through. 

Allen  township  in  Northampton  county  was  erected  in  1797  from  a 
point  in  the  Lehigh  river  to  the  road  leading  from  Hanoverville  to 
Bath,  on  lands  of  John  Fogel,  now  Daniel  Fogel,  where  the  Monocacy 
creek  crosses  the  road;  which  point  the  commissioners  established  by 
an  affidavit  of  Daniel  Fogel,  who  is  now  85  years  of  age. 

When  Lehigh  county  was  taken  from  Northampton  county  in  1812, 
the  county  line  was  extended  from  the  intersection  of  Monocacy 
creek  and  the  Lehigh  river  along  the  creek  to  the  public  road  to  the 
Lehigh  Gap,  which  it  follows  to  a  point  in  said  Allen  township  line. 
This  road  was  changed  since  1812  and  the  commissioners  had  to  secure 
the  old  location  and  follow  it  to  the  old  line  on  tlie  crest  of  Rocky  Hill, 
which    is   the    northeastern    corner   of   Hanover   township. 

The  old  Allen  township  line  was  not  run  since  1798.  Its  western 
end  was  designated  as  a  point  20  perches  south  of  Faust's  Ferry.  By 
the  affidavits  of  Reuben  Faust  of  Catasauqua  and  Benjamin  B. 
Burger  of  Allentown,  the  commissioners  fixed  upon  this  point  at  a 
buttonwood  tree  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Lehigh  river.  These  two  were 
easily  fixed  upon  the  site  of  the  ferry,  and  there  the  commissioners  found 
timbers  along  the  bank  showing  that  a  boat  landing  had  been  located 
there. 

Having  determined  these  points  at  Pogel's  and  at  Catasauqua,  the 
commissioners  ran  a  bee  line  between  the  two  and  that  line  from 
Rocky  Hill  to  the  river  as  the  new  boundary  line.  It  cuts  diagonally 
through  Mr.  Faust's  property  at  Catasauqua  and  cuts  off  a  small  corner 
of  the  Bryden  Horse  Shoe  Works  property ;  thence  it  passes  north  of 
Theordore  Bachman's  house  and  touches  the  bay-window  of  Daniel 
Milson's  house;  it  crosses  Adam  Rau's  premises  so  as  to  cut  it  into 
two  equal  triangles;  and  it  also  cuts  off  a  foot  and  a  half  of  a  corner 
of    the    Stand-Pipe. 

BANKS — There  are  two  banks  in  the  borough,  the 
National  Bank  of  Catasauqua  and  the  Lehigh  National 
Bank  of  Catasauqua. 

National  Bank  of  Catasauqua — The  first  banking 
institution  was  established  Sept.  9,  1857,  as  a  "State 
Bank"  with  a  charter  from  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania by  an  Act  of  Assembly  passed  May  5,  1857, 
and  an  auhorized  capital  of  $100,000;  and  its  first 
officers  and  directors  were  : — 

Eli   J.    Saeger,   president. 
David   Thomas  William   Miller 

John    S.   Hoffman  Jonas  Biery 


108  EARLY  HISTORY 

Charles    A.    Luckeiibach  Jonas  Biei'v 

Jacob    P.    Scholl  James   W.    Fuller 

David    A.    Tombler  Robert  Oberly 

Joshua   Hunt  Samuel   Laubach 

Jacob  Fatzinger,   Sr. 

Melclioir  H.  Horn,  cashier. 
John    O.    Lichtenwiillner,    teller. 
Janu-s  W.   Miekley,   clerk. 

Its  first  place  of  business  was  in  tiie  residence  of 
Thomas  Frederick  on  lower  Front  street  in  a  room 
which  is  now  used  as  a  barber  shop.  The  Lackey  two- 
story  brick-building  on  Front  street,  No.  139,  was 
then  secured,  remodeled  and  made  suitable  for  bank- 
ing purposes,  and  in  1858  the  bank  was  removed  to  it ; 
and  in  that  locality  it  continued  in  active  operation 
with  increasing  success  until  1903.  In  1867,  a  sub- 
stantial three-story  brick  building  embracing  a  bank 
and  cashier's  residence  was  erected  on  the  old  founda- 
tion, with  superior  improvements  to  meet  the  demands 
of  its  business. 

In  1865,  it  was  converted  into  a  National  bank. 
The  charter  was  extended  in  1885  for  20  years;  and 
re-extended  in  1905  for  20  years  more. 

In  1903,  the  bank  was  removed  to  its  present  local- 
ity at  Bridge  and  2nd  streets,  in  a  substantial  and 
stately  stone  building  with  a  modern  equipment  for 
security  against  fire  and  burglary.  It  may  be  men- 
tioned that  the  site  was  offered  in  1858  free  of  cost  to 
the  bank  by  David  Thomas,  which  was  declined ;  but 
in  1903,  when  purchased,  the  price  was  .$13,000. 

The  first  statement  of  the  bank,  Jan.  5,  1858,  w^as  as 
follows : — 

Resources.  Liabilities. 

Notes     $   89,225   Capital    Stock     $100,000 

Cash,    etc 146,078  Surplus    690 

Property    1,433   Circulation      129,000 

Deposits     7,046 

$236,736  $236,736 


BANKS  109 

In  1865,  when  it  became  a  National  bank,  its  finan- 
cial situation  was  as  follows : — 

Resources.  Liabilities. 

Notes      $361,105  Capital    Stock     $180,600 

Bonds     118,500  Surplus,    etc 42,177 

Cash     196,051   State   Bank   Xotes   still  out- 
Due  from  Banks      .      23,634        standing     348,532 

Bank     8,100  Deposits    116,907 

Due   to   Banks    19,174 


$707,390  $707,390 

The  annual  dividends  since  its  organization  have 
been  something  over  seven  per  cent. 

In  November,  1913,  its  situation  was  as  follows : — 

Resources.  Liabilities. 

Loans     $1,070,050   Stock     $     400,000 

Bonds     809,590   Surplus,   etc 380,401 

Bank,    etc 70,000  Circulation     197,498 

Cash,    etc 284,639   Deposits     1,256.380 


$2,234,279  $2,234,279 

Directors  and    Officers,    1914 

Rowland   T.    Davies  George   B.   Mauser 

G.  B.  F.  DeUy  Lucius   H.   McHose 

D.  George  Dery  Leonard    Peckitt 

J.    S.   Elverson  Dr.   H.   H.   Riegel 

Charles   C.    Kaiser  Harry  J.  Seaman 

Charles  E.   Lawall  Edwin  Thomas 

Charles    N.    Ulrich 

Edwin   Thomas,   president  Prank  M.   Horn,   cashier 

Dr.  H.  H.  Riegel,  vice  president         H.  V.  Swartz,   ass't.  cashier 


OFFICERS. 

Presidents  Cashiers. 

Eli  J.   Saeger   1857-88  Melchior  H.   Horn   1857-88 

Melchior  H.   Horn   1888-90  Prank  M.  Horn   1888-90 

Frank  M.   Horn   1890-99  Charles  R.   Horn   1890-99 

Owen   P.   Fatzinger   1899-1904  Frank  M.   Horn    1899-1914 
Edwin   Thomas    1904-14 

Lehigh  National  Bank — The  second  banking  in- 
stitution at  Catasauqua,  was  organized  in  July,  1906, 


no  EARLY  HISTORY 

with  a  capital  of  $125,000,  and  the  first  Board  of  Di- 
rectors was  constituted  as  follows : — 

James  C.   Beitel  James  W.   Peters 

Dr.  A.  J.  Becker  B.   Frank  Swartz 

H.  A.  Benner  James  J.  Seyfried 

George   H.    Dilcher  Charles  W.   Schneller 

Wm.   F.   Fenstermacher  Oscar  J.  Stine 

William   H.    Glace  A.   H.    Snyder 

Herman    Kostenbader  Rufus   M.   Wint 

P.  J.   Laubach  Thomas  Schadt 

Frank   B.   Mauser  Dr.    Daniel    Yoder 

Mr.  Glace,  a  resident  attorney-at-law,  of  large 
practice  and  business  experience,  was  selected  as 
president;  Mr.  Beitel,  as  vice  president,  and  J.  F. 
Moyer  as  cashier.  All  the  stock  was  taken  by  resi- 
dents of  Catasauqua  and  the  vicinity. 

The  property  on  the  S.  E.  corner  of  Front  and 
Bridge  streets  (which  extended  to  Railroad  alley,  45 
by  198  feet),  was  purchased  from  the  estate  of  James 
W.  Swartz,  deceased,  and  steps  were  taken  to  erect  a 
proper  bank  building  for  business. 

Temporary  quarters  were  established  on  the  prem- 
ises of  Mr.  Glace  at  423  Front  street,  and  actual  busi- 
ness was  started  on  Aug.  1st ;  and  the  first  financial 
statement  on  Sept.  4tli  was  as  follows  :— 

Resources.  Liabilities. 

Loans     $168,371  Capital    Stock     $97,580 

Bonds     36,247  Surplus,    etc 3,218 

Cash,    etc 69,120  Circulation      35,000 

Bank,    etc 2,934  Deposits    140,874 


$276,672  $276,672 

During  the  year  1907-08  an  attractive  bank  build- 
ing was  erected  with  the  most  approved  equipment 
for  banking  purposes,  with  assurance  of  protection 
against  loss  from  fire  or  burglary.  It  is  two-story, 
built  of  terra  cotta ;  the  first  floor  commodious  and 
convenient  of  access,  is  occupied  by  the  bank,  and 
the  second  floor  is  set  apart  for  offices. 

The  management  of  its  affairs  during  the  first 
year  showed  a  large  increase  of  deposits,  evidencing 


JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE  111 

that  this  second  bank  had  won  the  support  and  prac- 
tical encouragement  of  the  community. 

The   last   financial  statement   in   November,    1913, 
was  as  follows : — 

Resources.  Liabilities. 

Loans     $354,078  Stock     $125,000 

Bonds      275,701  Surplus,    etc 63,576 

Bank     33,000  Circulation     35,000 

Cash,    etc 97,943  Deposits    537,146 


$760,722  $760,722 

OFFICERS. 
Pre.iidents.  Cashier. 

William   H.   Glace    1906-08  Jonas  F.   Moyer   1906-14 

James  C.  Beitel  1908-14 

The  Board  has  continued  the  same  with  the  exception  that  Mr. 
Glace  and  Mr.  Schadt  resigned.  Mr.  Swartz  died,  and  Mr.  Kosten- 
bader  also  died  and  his  son  August  was  elected  his  successor. 

JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE— The  following  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  served  in  the  borough  from  the  time 
of  its  incorporation : — 

George    Frederick    1853-55  John   Hudders   1853-58 

Chauncey   D.    Fuller    1855-65  George    Frederick    1858-63 

Joseph  Hunter  1865-70  John  H.   Nolf  1863-65 

William   H.   Glace   1870-75  R.   Clay  Hamersly   1865-95 

Abraham  F.  Koons  1875-98  Charles  Graffin   1895-1900 

Edwin  C.  Koons  1898-1914  F.   Joseph   Wehrle    1900-05 

George  H.  Richter  1905-10 
C.   F.   Roth   1906-14 


Upon  the  subdivision  of  the  borough  into  two  wards 
in  1877,  it  was  contended  that  each  ward  became  en- 
titled to  two  incumbents,  and  two  extra  continued  to 
be  elected  and  to  officiate  without  protest  for  upw^ards 
of  tw'enty  years,  when  they  discontinued  because  the 
Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  decided  that  no  more 
than  two  Justices  would  be  commissioned  in  a  borough 


112  EARLY  HISTORY 

regardless  of  tlie  nninber  of  wards.    The  extra  incum- 
bents were : — 

James  Courtney  1878-83  Edwin  Gilbert  1878-79 

Abraham    N.    Ulrich    1883-1910    William   J.    Craig    1879-84 

Edward  D.  Boyer  1884-89 
Jacob   Van   Buskirk   1889-91 
James  Tait,  Jr.  1891-96 
Thomas    Jones    1896-1906 

BURGESSES— The  following  list  comprises  the 
names  of  the  burgesses  since  the  incorporation  of  the 
borough,  and  the  terms  of  service : — 

David  Thomas   1853  Henry   Davis   1878-80 

John   Boyer    1854  Philip   Storm   1881-84 

Uriah  Brunner  1855  Robert  E.    Williams    1885-87 

David   Thomas    1856-57  John  W.  Hopkins  1888-89 

William    Goetz    1858-59  Thomas  Jones  1890-91 

A.    C.    Lewis   1860  W.  A.   Borger  1892-93 

John    Williams    1861-69  Charles   R.   Horn   1894-96 

James    C.    Beitel    1870-71  C.   D.   W.   Bower   1897-99 

John   Williams   1872-73  Rufus  M.  Wint  1900-02 

M.   H.  Horn  1874  Henry  W.   Stolz   1903-05 

George  Bower  1875  Dr.  Charles  J.  Keim  1906-08;  1914 

William  H.  Glace  1876  Dr.  Henry  H.  Riegel  1909-13 

F.  W.  Wint  1877 

CENSUS — The  population  of  the  borough,  accord- 
ing to  the  U.  S.  enumeration,  since  its  incorporation, 
has  been  as  follows : — 

I860  1932   1890  3704 

1870  2853   1900  3963 

1880  3065   1910  5250 


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